


Finding Love on the Mistral Express

by Mattskitchen67



Series: Hollow Legacy AU [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: AU where Velvet doesn't have a human set of ears... because I have standards, Almost everyone on the train is an OC, Alternate Universe, Cunnilingus, Double sided dildo, Explicit Sexual Content in Chapters 2 & 3, F/F, Hollow Legacy AU, Lesbian Sex, Murder, Mystery, No Magic AU, Only Dust and Aura and Semblances, POV First Person, Photography, Post-Post-Apocalypse, Post-Time Skip, Reimagined Characters and Powers, Romance, Some cameos not worth tagging, Trains, Vaginal Fingering, Velvet a few inches taller AU, Weiss is a gamer now, everyone is ooc, just a heads up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:49:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 44,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22058824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mattskitchen67/pseuds/Mattskitchen67
Summary: It has been over three years since the White Fang took brief control of Beacon Tower, and the balance of power across Remnant has changed. Velvet Scarlatina, now a Hunter with over a year of experience out on the edge of Grimm territory, has agreed to escort the Mistral Express from the coastal settlements inland. But things get complicated when she finds a familiar face among the passengers.A sequel to my Hollow Legacy fic. It picks up a few years later and focuses on what’s next for Weiss and Velvet.
Relationships: Velvet Scarlatina/Weiss Schnee
Series: Hollow Legacy AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1587649
Comments: 15
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the wait. I genuinely thought at one time, I would have the first chapter of this out by the end of... July.
> 
> So that's embarrassing!
> 
> Anyway, after all this time procrastinating, working other projects (2019 was a bit of a blur tbh), etc. I needed to return to this account and get this one done one way or another, or it would haunt me forever.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

I took another picture. The camera flash illuminated Weiss for less than half a second, capturing the image of the white-haired Hunter-in-training next to a wall inside the campus gardens. Comforting jazz music drifted over the hedges and flowers around us from the dance hall in the distance, where the rest of our classmates were still partying after we ran off to do our impromptu photoshoot.

I scrolled through the last several shots I’d taken. Something about photographing Weiss brought out my A-game. Unfortunately, Coco had also noticed and thought it was really cute. Good thing Weiss and I were always alone when we did this.

As I got ready to take another photo of Weiss, I tried my best to keep my left ear from twitching. I’d inherited large brown hare ears from my mom’s side of the family (I’d given up trying to correct people that they weren’t “rabbit ears” for a while now), and they always betrayed my mood at the worst time. Something Faunus don’t talk enough about is how hard these things make it to lie. Imagine trying to keep a poker face, but your ears start flopping around like they were directing air traffic. 

The twitching specifically was a habit I could’ve sworn I’d outgrown years ago, but the sight of Weiss that night caught me off guard. I managed to play it off by brushing back my hair and adjusting my suit jacket and tie before lifting my camera and snapping two more pictures of my amateur model.

Weiss was facing away from me in a white sleeveless dress as she was hit by two more flashes. The glow clung to her skin for a moment, before fading into the makeshift lighting we'd made by cobbling together party lights that were decorating the gardens. Don't worry, we put them back later.

“How was that, Velvet?” Weiss asked, turning her head over her shoulder.

“Just a couple more from the front, please,” I asked, hiding my big stupid grin behind my camera.

Weiss brushed back her side-ponytail before swaying the edge of her dress up as she spun around to face me, posing for the next set with a smile. It was an odd sight, a Faunus and a member of the Schnee family getting along. Even though a few weeks back she'd been publicly disowned and cut-off from using any of her family's influence and resources, many Faunus and "humans" still couldn't see past the name. At the highpoint of their corporate and political power, the Schnee family was commonly considered to be the arch-enemy of all Faunus. Beacon was the only place that hadn’t rejected her.

The funny part was: that’s what made us kindred spirits.

Despite being a year apart in the program, we both gravitated to each other. It helped that both of us were the main support members of our respective teams; Weiss’s function was to enhance their abilities through her glyphs, while my job was to fill in roles for Team CFVY’s configurations using my Aura-projected weapons and flexible style. Both of us could fight well on our own, but we were better at bringing out the talents of other Hunters-in-training. Maybe because of that, we both found a small necessity in occasionally escaping from them.

After reviewing the last few pictures again, I looked up at my shining underclassmen. Even without the camera pointing at her, she was posed with a genuine light in her eyes. She was good at putting on a mask, but lately, I’d picked up on its presence or absence, and the last few times we’d done a shoot, I was pretty sure that Weiss didn’t need to pretend.

“When I asked you to start helping me out with this, I never thought you’d enjoy it this much,” I said with a suggestive smirk as I went back to snapping photos.

Weiss rolled her eyes at my comment and turned to the side as another pair of flashes hit her. “Stop making me out to be some pervert,” she said. “You’re the one who begged me to come out here.”

“I wanna say I was rescuing you from the party in there, but I really just wanted to get these done while you were wearing that dress.”

Weiss humphed. “How selfish of you. Hogging me all to yourself.”

My fingers tensed up around the camera. From Weiss’s smirk, I could tell she was only teasing, but the familiar description got on my nerves.

But just as quickly as my hands started to shake, I calmed them and returned a tease back to Weiss. “All to myself, huh? You’re acting like I’m robbing everyone at the dance. You must think you’re the center of the universe or something. Is that why you like modeling?”

Weiss shrugged and spoke to herself absentmindedly. “Universe is a little large, maybe just the school.”

_ Wait…  _ I thought.  _ You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking. _

Weiss turned to me. “All that aside,” she said with concern in her voice, “dresses aren’t going anywhere, and neither am I, Velvet. Don’t feel like you need to miss out on the party on my account.”

“There will be plenty of dancing left by the time we get back,” I said. “And the person I want to dance with isn’t in there right now.”

My ears perked up, alerted as I realized that I might have let a little too much slip with the end of that sentence.

Weiss raised an eyebrow and put a hand on her waist. “Are you seeing someone off-campus?”

_ Oh, thank god _ , I thought,  _ she misunderstood. _ I sighed in relief, but my eyes went wide again as soon as I realized that Weiss now thought I wasn’t available.

“Not anymore!” I said, whipping my head up. “I met a guy before I started here, but we split up a while back. I don’t do well in long-distance relationships.” I fiddled with my camera before looking through it and adjusted the focus around Weiss, hiding the blush on my face. “How about you? Missing any dances?”

“Me?” Weiss turned and faced the gardens. “...No.”

I peeked around the edge of my camera. For some reason, I felt like I’d brought up something delicate, but before I could figure out what kind of apology to give…

Weiss sighed and turned with a smile towards the dance hall in the distance. “After all,” she said, “If I am going to pursue this career and become a Hunter, it’s going to need my undivided attention. I chose this path, and I don’t plan on abandoning it lightly.”

I nodded. “Also, you lost all your other options after you got disowned, right?”

Weiss snapped her fingers and pointed at me. “Exactly!” she agreed. “But I’m a free woman now, and everything is under control.”

_Good perspective to have,_ I thought as I allowed myself to sneak another glance at Weiss. The former heir had gone through a drastic transformation during the last few weeks. It looked like a massive weight had been released from her shoulders, and for the first time, she could take on the world with her full power.

“Alright!” I said as I wiped the grin off my face. “One more, and we’ll drag ourselves back to the dance. Well, I guess you don’t mind them as much as I do. ”

"Unlike my team,  _ I _ know how to conduct myself during a social gathering. It doesn't mean that I have to like them."

“Oh,” I said, realizing something new about Weiss, “so you’re a liar then.”

Weiss frowned. “Tact is not lying.”

“Well, I’m glad you can ignore ‘tact’ around me,” I said. Considering that I couldn’t bring myself to admit how I felt, I was a hypocrite for teasing her. I snapped a picture of Weiss’s pout before we cleaned up and left with a camera full of preserved moments between us.

Moments that I never thought I would have to cherish.

**Four years later…**

The platform rumbled under my feet as the passenger train rolled past me. It slowly thunked along the rails as the brakes squealed and groaned; I folded my ears back to protect my hearing as the heavy vehicle crawled to a stop. 

I sighed as I rolled my shoulders back and cracked my knuckles inside my aviator jacket pockets, dissipating the tension I'd build by rushing over here. My ears perked up before I rested them forward, posed so that they would appear relaxed. Calm and approachable, I said to myself. Become the professional they don’t expect you to be. I tightened my ponytail and adjusted my black turtleneck under the combat goggles hanging around my neck. Ready as I was ever going to be. Another day, another job.

I picked up my duffle bag, slipped it over my shoulder, and stepped out of the secluded corner of the settlement’s station as I walked toward the newly arrived Mistral Express.

The small station platform was filled with passengers leaving the train who mixed into the crowd waiting to board along with me. A few of the train’s attendants, all wearing similar blue vests for uniforms, were helping people off the train and with their luggage, which made the one looking through the crowd stand out. He peeked over the heads of the passengers until he spotted me and started to wave.

“Scarlatina?” the attendant called across the platform, signaling me to come over.

As I made my way through the crowd, the attendant squirmed from the outgoing passengers filling the station. But, as soon as I got close, he put aside his discomfort and put on his best attempt of a professional smile.

“You’re the Hunter, right? I figured from the gear, and the boss said you were a Faunus,” the attendant said as he glanced up at my ears and then went down to locking eye contact with me. He was a tall young man around my own height and age. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, and his hair was intentionally unkempt in the front. I wasn’t sure if his seemingly permanent smirk was an attempt to be friendly, or if he was mocking me.

Anyway, I nodded and held out my hand. “Velvet Scarlatina,” I introduced myself.

He shook my hand and nodded. “I didn’t think we were getting a Hunter until the boss said you were coming at the last minute. Apparently, the usual guy the company hires had to cancel.”

“Most Hunters along the coast have headed up north to clean up the Grimm attack,” I said, “but I was still in the area, so they called me in.” As willing as I was to get work, less than two hours of notice was pushing it. I got here early ‘cause I ran across the settlement to get here on time.

“Oh yeah!” the attendant said, motioning to a name badge on his chest. “Quartz Taylor. Dad named me after my hair.”

I looked up at the hair that was definitely darker than white, and I raised an eyebrow.

“It was lighter when I was a kid,” Quartz said.

“Oh!”

That made more sense.

“What’s your guys’ fortress level?” I asked after the introductions.

Quartz shrugged. “You’ll have to ask the boss about that. It’s only my first trip onboard. Which is why I get the busy work--no offense. Have you done this trip before?”

“No, it’s my first time escorting a train. I usually stick to smaller settlements,” I said. “I’ve done some convoys and ships, so I get the gist.”

"Well, at least I'm not the only one. I've only worked on freight trains, so this is the first time I've had to deal with..." he spoke quietly and looked at the crowd around us with a sour expression, "...passengers."

“You’d be surprised how much customer service comes up in my job, too,” I said, sharing his feelings.

“If they ever attack me, is it your job to protect me from them, or are you here just for the Grimm?”

“The contract said something about keeping the peace onboard,” I said, “so I think that counts.”

Quartz laughed and crossed his arms, looking at me like I’d earned his approval. “I guess I should get to why my boss--the conductor,” he corrected himself, “had me come find you." He pulled a room key from his vest pocket and held it out to me. “He’s busy, so he wanted me to give you this so you could drop off your stuff. They’ve got you set up in one of the nice rooms in the sleeper car. You’re lucky you don’t have to bunk with a guy who snores.” He complained, side-eyeing another attendant a couple cars down the platform.

"Huh. That's accommodating, I said. I'd spent my last several assignments out in the boonies, so I'd gotten used to sleeping wherever I could. If I was lucky, a Faunus family would have a spare room or couch. By comparison, this job was like visiting a palace.

After Quartz gave me the key, he said, "The conductor is up near the engine if you want a tour before we leave."

"I'll track him down after I drop off my bag. Thank you." I looked up at the train. It was bigger than I'd thought it would be. Each car was two floors tall, both heavily protected by armored shutters for long-distance travel between settlements all across the continent between here at the western coast and Mistral.

As I stepped up into the train, Quartz called after me, “Where’s the rest of your bags?”

“I pack light,” I called back with a wave.

“No weapon?” Quartz raised his eyebrow.

“I have a Conjurer-Type Semblance.”

He blinked in confusion and rubbed the back of his head. “I guess you have it all figured out then?” 

Quartz turned to help out some more passengers move their luggage onto the train as I walked further inside, and the sounds of the crowd in the station finally muffled behind the train car’s walls.

The coach car contained two rows of seats next to security glass windows, which gave a wide (and safe) view of the outside for sightseeing. From the interior, it looked like the train had been in operation for a couple decades. The walls hadn't seen a fresh coat of paint in a few years, and plenty of the seat cushions had worn down, but the design was made tough for long journeys, and personally, I was much more comfortable traveling in a sturdy, lived-in train, than something built for luxury.

I walked into the sleeper car, and as I turned to go up to the second floor, I bumped into another passenger, an older man with short white hair and a trimmed beard, rushing down the stairs.

“My apologies,” he said as he adjusted his glasses and looked at me. As his eyes passed over my gear and Faunus ears, he visibly flinched.

He nodded a quick farewell and hurried out of the car away from me.

_ Flip a coin, _ I thought.  _ The Faunus thing, or the Hunter thing? _ It was getting harder to tell these days. I glanced over my shoulder as he headed toward the front of the train. From his accent, I was sure he was Atlesian, and I almost wondered what he was doing all the way down here in Anima. But I didn’t have any room to judge anyone for being a long way from home.

I turned back and headed up the stairs toward my room.

  
  


Quartz was right, the room was surprisingly nice with a queen-sized bed, a small table, and a bathroom and shower to the side; more room than I needed, but I would never complain about that. After dropping off my bag, I headed to the front of the train to find the conductor. He immediately started the tour after a quick greeting, both of us heading down the cars as I asked questions about my new assignment.

“So tell me about the route,” I said as we walked through the luggage car.

“We’re doing a round trip to Mistral and back,” the conductor said. When he introduced himself earlier, he said his name was Willem Boyd. He was a middle-aged man with an angular face, slicked-back hair under his conductors hat, three pins on his uniform jacket, and he spoke in a friendly but sharp voice. “This stretch has the weakest protection from Grimm attacks. We may have up-to-date defenses, but nothing replaces a trained Hunter.”

“What about the terrain?”

“We move along the mountain range, so it’s mostly hills and canyons. Despite the danger, it’s a beautiful trip, honestly.”

“How about passengers? How full are we going to be?”

“Less than we were expecting,” Boyd said as he opened the door and crossed the gangway between cars. “We’re at less than half capacity, but the return trip we’ll have more. People aren’t traveling because of the Grimm attack up north, but we were prepared for more because Mistral locked down air travel while the White Fang fleet is near the continent.”

The conductor flinched as he finished speaking and turned to me.

“Sorry to bring up the… uh…”

“I’m here to do a job,” I said, putting on a polite smile. “It’s not a problem.” Acting like mentioning the mere existence of the White Fang was some taboo around me because of my ears was what really bothered me. It’d only gotten worse since they attacked Beacon and hijacked an entire Atlas fleet almost four years ago, cementing themselves as a legitimate force standing against the Kingdoms.

We started to walk through the coach car and continued to discuss the route. “What we’re going to have to watch out for is the dead zone,” Boyd said. “It’s halfway between the coastal settlements and the ones outside of Mistral.”

“There aren’t any Network signals in those mountains? Even with the new Archive Towers?”

“Nope. A couple trains have derailed there in the past with no way to call for help until it was too late,” Boyd said quietly without any of the passengers hearing.

I nodded in understanding. “I assume that’s why I’m here.”

The conductor chuckled. “I’m glad you understand.”

As we continued through the coach car, one of the passengers looked up at us. She looked a little older than me, had dark green hair, and wore a studded leather hoodie.

“You hired a new Hunter, Boyd?” the passenger said.

The conductor paused the tour and turned to the other woman. “Our usual had to cancel.”

“Isn’t that what the guns on the roof are for?”

I turned to the passenger and had to restrain myself from mentioning the obvious fact that it was better to depend on things smarter than Grimm to kill Grimm.

“Ms. Scarlatina has a fantastic reputation in these parts,” Boyd defended me, which was odd. I was surprised he’d heard of my work considering I’d avoided working in the larger settlements around here.

The passenger folded her arms as she stared me down. “Plenty of alternatives popping up these days. Maybe you should have gone with one of them.”

I sighed and couldn't help but shake my head and say, “I wouldn't suggest hiring just anyone to do a job as delicate as fighting Grimm.” I probably had this conversation more times than I’d actually been in battle during my short career. There had been too many tragedies in the last few years caused by idiots who thought they were tough shit because they knew how to pull a trigger on a Hunter-Class weapon, only to get half a settlement killed by their incompetence.

The passenger still looked at me unconvinced, and anything I could say wouldn’t change that. “I’m not questioning your skills at killing,” she grumbled as she leaned back and stared out the window.

I turned and ignored the comment as I continued down the train, but Boyd leaned down and whispered to the passenger.

“Jade, I wouldn’t make an enemy with the person whose job it is to make sure you don’t end up as a Beowolf’s breakfast,” he said before putting on a smile and patting her on the shoulder.

I perked my ears forward and pretended I hadn’t overheard as I let the conductor catch up with me.

“Who’s she?” I asked.

“A local,” Boyd said. “She rides this line all the time and fancies herself a settlement autonomy activist. Travels around to various protests across Anima.”

“So, she’s been busy lately?”

“That’s an understatement. She ends up on my train pretty often, so if she ever causes you any problems, just come talk to me. I know how to handle her.”

I shrugged. “She must love the new Archive Towers.”

“Who doesn’t?” Boyd said. “The Kingdoms shot themselves in the foot with that one.”

He was right. Growing up in Vale, the CCTS Network seemed like a constant part of life. It took me a while to understand how much the Kingdoms hung access to it over the settlements, forcing them into submission. Until, of course, the Battle of Beacon.

During the White Fang’s brief takeover of Beacon Campus a few years back, they used the tower as a bargaining chip over the Kingdoms for negotiations. The Kingdoms stalled as best as they could, and created archives that could collect and store data from the Network, so if it was destroyed, most of it could still be recovered, and so the Faunus terrorists would lose the hold they had over the Kingdoms. 

It would have been a decent plan, if the technology hadn’t fallen into the hands of the settlements, who used the archive servers to construct their own towers and create their own backup Network, outside the four Kingdom’s control. Now, plenty of Archive Towers had been built in settlements across Anima and Sanus, the new Network was projected to become more popular than the original in the next few years.

Settlements that once depended on the Kingdoms and their control of the towers no longer needed to keep those allegiances for survival, making tensions rise across Remnant. The towers stood as architectural proof of the shift in power and the death of the dynamic I'd grown up with. Even before Vale took back Beacon without the tower falling, forcing the White Fang to escape with their fleet of stolen Atlas ships, the consequences had already rippled out, and Remnant would never be the same.

The tour of the train moved through the rest of the coach cars, a dining car, and the sleeper car before we reached the end of the train. The bottom floor of the final car was a lounge with couches and a piano, and the upper floor was the observation deck. There was a skylight, and the windows were larger, with the very end of the car being a glass half-dome that allowed passengers the best view outside as they traveled through the mountains.

“And that’s the tour,” Boyd said after showing me around. “When would you like to test the lockdown?”

“How does twenty minutes after we leave the settlement sound?”

“Sounds perfect.”

“I didn’t see any sign of Grimm damage on the outside, how often do you see them out here?”

“The coast is always safe. We’ll get trouble in the dead zone from time to time, but it’s never bad in the fall.”

That didn’t sound right to me. “That Atlas base up north that was overrun wasn’t far from your route, right?” I asked.

Boyd nodded. “It is strange. From what I’ve been told, a swarm of Grimm appeared out of nowhere and broke through the defenses.” The base in question was rebuilt from all the way back during the Great War. Mantle and Mistral had fortresses in each other's territory as a sign of allyship, and to honor that history, Mistral allowed Atlas to keep operating one of them all the way down here in Anima, but it really was just a research and development station used for testing in a warmer climate. I'd heard there were plans to shut it down because of newly strained relations between Atlas and the new Mistral regime. Not that it mattered after the attack.

Boyd sighed and glanced outside at the settlement outside. “The last thing Remnant needs is for Grimm to get more dangerous,” he mumbled. He shook his head to distract himself of the possibility and turned back to me and held out a Scroll. “Before I forget,” he said, “here are the controls.”

I thanked him and took the Scroll. It was in a combat-grade casing for surviving tough scrapes a Hunter holding it might run into. I put my thumb on the screen, which lit up with controls over the train’s lockdown and weapons; they switched off automatic and were fully unlocked and transferred to my ID.

"The rail company only trusts the weapon controls to a contracted Hunter," Boyd said. "Until the end of the trip, only you can activate or use this device. You can switch us to a full lockdown, or just specific cars, and you can fire the weapons manually from it. It also can override any lock on the train. We're trusting you with full access, even more than I have."

I glanced through the Scroll’s features. It contained every tool I needed for the job, and all conveniently on one device that fit on my belt.

"Oh! One last thing, before I forget," Boyd said. "At the front of the train, the rail company had us hook up a Dust cargo car. Apparently, there was a mix-up, and we need to deliver it to Mistral, where it will be transferred to another train. My keys can't unlock the cases in there, but the override on your Scroll can. The company has asked that you only use your own supply of ammunition, and don't touch any of the cargo. Everything is logged. Etc."

“And if I do, I’ll have it marked on my record forever,” I said, finishing the conductor’s point. “It’s not my first radio, transporting Dust.” It was the most effective weapon against Grimm, so a Hunter transporting it needed access just in case of emergencies. My organization would reimburse them if the investigation proved that using the stash was justified, but if not, it all came out of my pocket, so it really was a last resort.

Boyd smiled and extended a hand. “I’ll leave it all to you. Welcome aboard.”

We shook hands before he left me alone in the observation car. After a few minutes, the train started with a lurch, pulling out of the station and away from the safe walls of the settlement.

I walked over to the large window at the back of the train and watched the view. The old tiled roofs and stucco walls of the town gleamed as brightly as the ocean whose coast the settlement was pressed against. At the center of all the buildings was a tall metal structure; the sight of modern engineering stood out among the nearly century-old architecture surrounding it. It resembled an electrical pylon, with cross-sectioned metal beams that held up a large white light at the top, transmitting signals to and from the archival servers housed at the bottom.

The roofs, the coast to one side, the hills to another, and the Archive Tower in the center…

It was framed perfectly at this distance. The perfect moment for a picture.

I started to reach to my side for a camera bag with muscle memory and felt nothing.

Of course not. I left it in my duffle bag, back in the room.

_ Funny, _ I thought.  _ I never used to do that. _

When I was little, I got my first camera as a gift from my parents. It was pretty cheap, a disposable model, and similarly, it was a disposable gift. An afterthought for one of the younger kids. But I fell in love with it. Photography was something I could call my own, and my passion for it was probably why my Semblance shaped into what it did.

But lately… I just couldn’t be bothered.

I sighed and leaned against the rail in front of the dome-like back window. The train pulled me eastward, away from the coastal settlements, and headed inland across the continent toward Mistral. Even farther away from home.

_ How long has it been since I saw everyone? _

Before I could figure out the answer, my ears perked up as a couple pairs of heavy combat boots walked up onto the observation floor. I glanced over my shoulder at the intruders. They were two men talking between themselves, wearing green uniforms that broadcasted an affiliation that anyone living in Anima would recognize. Mistral Militia soldiers.

The first words I overheard came from the one with a thick neck and a buzz cut around his ears: “--get back home, and it’s not our problem anymore.”

The other soldier, who had a shaved head, grunted back, “The old bastard is too--”

They both immediately shut up as soon as they saw me standing at the end of the car. We made eye-contact as their glances turned into glares.

“Hey!” Buzz Cut (I didn’t know their names yet) shouted. “We’re trying to have a conversation here, so get out!”

I turned around and reached inside my jacket, pulling out my Hunter badge and flashed it at the pair. 

Their eyebrows raised for a moment before Buzz Cut relaxed and started walking toward me. "Well, well, well. For a second, I thought we were heading home without a professional."

I put away the badge and stepped toward them. "And I thought this was a solo job. They said nothing about Mistral being stationed onboard."

Buzz Cut raised an eyebrow and shot a glance at his partner. “You know what they say in Mistral about ladders in the lower levels?” he said, carefully getting the wording right.

I cocked my head and squinted. “...No?”

They looked at each other, something silently communicated before Buzz Cut turned to me again, his shoulders tensed up. “Forget it. We’re just on an overdue vacation, little lady.”

I raised an eyebrow and put a hand on my waist. “Neat. Well, I’ll get out of your way,” I said as I tried to walk past them. Whatever they were up to, I knew I wouldn’t like it, and the sooner I got away from Militia wackjobs, the better.

“Now hold on a second,” Buzz Cut stretched out an arm in my path, blocking my exit.

I turned, facing him and his friend. The other guy smelled like body wash scraped off the tiles of a locker room, and from the scratches across his scalp, he hadn’t shaved with a sharp razor in a few weeks.

“Can I help you with something?” I said with a professional smile.

“Don’t be like that.” Buzz Cut raised his chin and smirked, trying to be taller than my ears. “We just have some security questions as… concerned passengers. We just want a little assurance, especially from a Hunter like  _ you _ .”

_ Here we go. _

"You have no need to feel concerned that my heritage will get in the way of my duty,” I said. “I promise."

Buzz Cut’s smirk dropped into a scowl. “Maybe you’re good at your job, maybe not, but that doesn’t change our concern one bit. Last time I checked, your  _ people _ were the ones who brought down the Mistral government.”

“Do you have any questions about the train’s defenses, my qualifications, or the White Fang? I can answer any concerns about the first two. But while we’re asking pointless questions, I’ve worked in Anima for a while now, and I’ve never seen a pair of Militia grunts like you this far away from Mistral’s walls, let alone any on ‘vacation.’”

Buzz Cut leaned in close. "You Faunus forgot something when you tried to cripple our Kingdom. Mistral doesn't stay down. We rose up against your kind when no one else would, and created a stronger order. How we spend our time in our territory is none of your business. So, as long as you're slinking around this train, keep those ears to yourself, and out of our way."

I kept a stone face through his intimidation, but my eyes caught some movement from the other guy pulling something off his belt. A glint of the sunlight through the large windows reflected off a small blade in his hand.

A glimpse was all I needed.

Faster than either Militia soldier could react, my Aura burst alive with a quick mental command. A sensation feeling like static electricity emerged in my chest and spread across my body as my senses and muscles were enhanced, like every one of my cells was super-charged with power. Out of my left hand, my Aura formed into a matching knife that shot forward as another copy appeared in my right that I gripped and held up to Buzz Cut’s raised chin.

The launched knife clashed against the soldier's blade, sending it flying out of his grip. The ring of an Aura-construct striking metal rang out as both weapons spun across the floor away from the three of us.

Buzz Cut blinked in surprise and looked between me and the Aura-blade at his neck, unsure exactly what had happened until he spotted the original knife. A new smile appeared across his face. If it was genuine, or a bluff to hide his panic, I couldn't tell. But either way, he calmly said, "Maybe you won't be half bad."

I withdrew my blade and spun it in my hand as it scattered into particles that floated away before I shut off my Aura. The energy around my body dissipated as my senses and strength returned to normal, and I lost access to my Semblance. I'd developed it to the point that I could copy the shape of a weapon just by looking at it. Why carry a sword or a scythe when I could have any Hunter-class weapon I'd ever laid eyes on?

Buzz Cut turned and glared at his partner. “Ash, pick up your fucking knife. You’re making us look like a joke.”

The other soldier, Ash, grumbled to himself and bent down to retrieve his weapon, hiding it away again on his belt.

I leaned around Buzz Cut and looked at Ash. “You wouldn’t happen to have any civilian-class or higher firearms onboard? Because I would have to confiscate those if you two really are on ‘vacation.’”

Ash ground his teeth, but Buzz Cut just chuckled. “As I said,” he said, “we’re just sightseeing.”

“Right…” I said as I finally walked past them. I waved and called back, “Enjoy the ride and pretend I’m not even here!”

_ I’ll try to do the same. _

I walked down the stairs and waited until I was in the next car before I left out a gasp of relief. If I wasn’t a Hunter, that could have gone poorly in about four different ways. I’d almost brought out something bigger, something to really show how small they were compared to my power. If they kept the 'retribution for old Mistral' act going, I might get another chance.

The ironic part was, the White Fang only targeted Mistral's criminal underworld four years ago. Around the time they attacked Beacon, another group, led by Khan, took on the largest criminal syndicate in Mistral, stealing Dust, weaponry, and a ton of money, systematically destroying the organization. The problem started when all the corrupt members of Mistral's council, which was all of them, panicked, and soon the entire Kingdom fell into chaos. It didn’t take long for a group of civilians, calling themselves The Militia, to rise up and take control, gathering support by blaming Faunus for what happened. To put it lightly, things became much worse in Mistral, especially for Faunus.

Luckily, if they do try anything, a Hunter’s word, even a Faunus one, still carried more value than a pair of Militia jackasses.

“The people you run into doing this job, I swear,” I grumbled to myself.

I leaned my forehead against the nearest window, the cold air outside was calming as the trees sped past me.

_ Two months… _

I finally remembered. Two months since I’d split from Coco and the rest of my Team. If there was a gun to my head, I would have sworn it had been so much longer.

_ Look what you’ve done, _ I thought.  _ Gone wandering off, thinking you can handle it. _

I looked up at the ceiling of the train car, my ears bent down and partially blocked the view as they hung there aimlessly.

“...What am I doing?” I whispered.

  
  


My heavy combat boots stomped down the aisle of one of the coach cars as the conductor's voice spoke through the intercom:

“Attention all passengers, we are about to begin a test of the lockdown function. Please remain calm and stay away from the doors and windows for your own safety. Lockdown will last for only a few minutes. Once more, the lockdown test will begin in thirty seconds. Please remain calm and keep clear of the in-between doors.”

As soon as the announcement ended, I spoke into my own radio to the train’s crew, “All teams, are you in position?”

The attendants stationed around each car sounded off for the drill. Any passenger train worker going through Grimm territory had done this a hundred times and could do a hundred more in their sleep.

“Here.”

“Clear view of the windows and doors.”

“All good,” a final voice said that I recognized as the Quartz guy I spoke to earlier.

I looked up at the intercom speaker as it beeped, letting all the passengers know that thirty seconds were up. “Standby,” I said into my radio before I pulled out the Scroll the conductor gave me earlier. I tapped the lockdown tab and swiped the button for a full test.

Bars appeared in all the windows before metal armored shutters on the outside slammed down over them. All sunlight was blocked as the outside of the train became encased in metal. The doors between cars locked and bolted shut, making each car a small fortress.

Glancing at my Scroll, I spoke into the radio to the crew again, “All teams, how’s it looking?”

The crew’s voices responded one by one, saying that all the shutters closed. A passenger near me yawed, and another boredly tapped on his seat’s armrest. Just like the crew, they’d been through this too many times to care. I was probably the only one on board who had any sort of anxiety about getting this right.

As I climbed to the second floor of my car, a quick glance, and no natural light, revealed that it was as secure as the rest of the train. The last of the reports came in over the radio: the train had successfully retreated into its armor like a turtle in its shell.

I pulled out my radio and called the conductor, “Everything looks good. I’ll release the lockdown now.”

I pushed the release button, and the armored shutters pulled back up as sunshine returned to the car. Boyd’s voice came over the intercom again, “Thank you for your patience, lockdown is now over. All unscheduled lockdowns from this point will be for emergencies only. Please relax and enjoy the rest of the ride.”

There was only one problem, one of the shutters at the other end of the top floor hadn’t gone up as directed. I frowned and fiddled with the cars’ shutter controls again, only for no response from the armor outside.

I walked all the way down the long car, the passengers around me all back to normal like the lockdown test hadn’t even happened. One was talking to their two toddlers. Another out of sight was playing a video game on their Scroll, the bleeps and bloops of their level just quiet enough not to be a disturbance. Others sat in silence, reading a book or napping. All typical bored travelers.

Reaching the covered window, I looked it up and down before hitting the wall above it a couple times. The shutter sprang up and slammed out of sight.

I pulled out my radio and called Boyd again. “Looks like one of the shutters in coach is a little buggy. I’ll check it out when I look at the cannons later.”

I put away my radio and started walking back the way I came. Past the readers and toddlers. Sleeping passengers. Etc…

“Damn it all,” a haughty voice in a seat next to me whispered with fury, right as I passed by. The bleeps of her video game intensified with her frustration.

I glanced down at the passenger for only a moment--and stopped dead in my tracks.

In the seat, her back to the side of the car I'd originally walked down from was a woman near my age. She was sitting alone and glaring intently at her Scroll, gripping it in both her hands as she tried to overcome whatever digital challenge lay before her.

She was wearing a white double-breasted jacket that matched her white hair, which was now cut in a pixie style, her short hair revealing a faded scar over her left eye.

“Unfair garbage,” she mumbled. “If you really think I would give up that easily, you’ve underestimated me!”

The hair on the back of my head perked up as my ears stood alert. At first, I thought she must have been a look-alike, but no… it was Weiss. Right in front of me. After all this time.

Weiss ground her teeth at the game again, glancing up for a second at the petrified figure standing next to her.

Her eyes met mine, and her expression immediately mirrored my own.

The space caught between us seemed frozen while the sounds of the compartment carried on as always. The neglected game in Weiss’s hands beeped at her, letting her know that she’d lost the level, not getting a reaction from either of us.

I blinked, snapping myself out of it somewhat, and managed to lift a hand for a quick wave.

“Hey…”

Weiss waved back and nervously smiled. “Ehhhh… Oh no…”


	2. Chapter 2

My morning alarm disturbed the quiet room, moments after the sunrise shone through the window and woke me. I forced myself to sit up and slammed my palm against the clock until it shut off. I stretched, rubbing my eyes to keep awake before I slowly made my way to the shower, which apparently took me a whole five minutes because as soon as I had stripped and turned the handle for the hot water, that stupid alarm started ringing again. I groaned and walked back to the nightstand, grabbed the infuriating clock, and fiddled with it for a while until I finally silenced it, hopefully, forever. I tossed it back onto the nightstand, where it slid off and tumbled onto the carpet.

After a quick shower, I rubbed a towel through my hair and the poofy fur covering my long ears. I rested my hands on the small vanity and stared at myself in the slightly fogged up mirror.

“Idiot!” I said and threw the towel at my own reflection.

Yesterday's reunion had gone worse than I could have possibly imagined. I knew I was bound to run into Weiss again at some point, but when the time came, and I was face-to-face with her again after all this time, what did I say?

“Well, nice seeing you again,” I had said through clenched teeth.

“You too,” Weiss laughed nervously.

Then I turned, robotically, and with stilt-like legs, quickly walked out of the car.

And that’s how that ended…

“Reunited with the biggest crush of your youth, and all you had to say is, “Hi.”” I scolded myself as my heavy ears dropped down the side of my head. “Fucking idiot.”

Weiss Schnee. Back at Beacon, she was a member of the now-infamous Team RWBY. Once the rising stars of Beacon's freshmen-class four years ago, now known for betraying the Kingdoms by teaming up with the White Fang to defend a settlement called Snowdale from the Atlas Military. They spent close to the next two years in a Faunus internment camp in Vale, but once the place was finally shut down, they were made an example of and banished from all the Kingdoms. Naturally, we lost contact.

Putting on my jacket, I left my room and made my way to the dining car. The breakfast crowd had filtered in with most of the seats at the bar and tables taken. Quartz, the laid back attendant I met yesterday, and one other attendant were running between tables taking orders and bringing passengers their meals.

Looking over the tables, I spotted the older passenger, with the Atlesian accent, I bumped into yesterday, and across from him, glancing over and making eye contact with me, was Weiss herself.

My back went rigid. The train wasn't that big, so of course, I ran into her again sooner rather than later. Didn't make it any less awkward.

The Atlesian man also noticed me. He wiped the edges of his mouth with his napkin as he stood up and walked over.

“You must be the Hunter. I am Professor Dimon Sky,” he introduced himself as he shook my hand.

“Velvet Scarlatina,” I said back with a polite smile.

“I must apologize for crashing into you yesterday. I was in a hurry to check on something, and I was horribly impolite.”

“It’s no problem, sir. I hardly thought about it.” I glanced over at Weiss sitting at the table, who was leaning back with a neutral expression as she crossed her arms.

“Even so, I am a man of--” Professor Sky noticed that my full attention wasn’t on him and turned to Weiss, still at the table. “Ah, yes. This is Ms. Weiss Schnee. We were becoming acquainted over breakfast.”

Weiss spoke up. “We’ve met.”

“Oh?”

“We knew each other at Beacon,” I explained.

“Wonderful!” Professor Sky exclaimed. “Then you must join us!”

“That’s alright. I wouldn’t want to interrupt.”

“Nonsense. I wanted to ask about your Hunter duties anyway. If that’s alright with you, Ms. Schnee?”

Weiss shrugged. “Have a seat.”

I sighed and looked around the car. It wasn’t like there were any other options, and Weiss was right there. 

“Alright.” I flashed a nervous smile and sat down with them.

After a moment, Quartz ran up to the table to take my order. “Morning, Velvet,” he said. “What will it be for you?”

“Um…” I picked up one of the menus and gave it a quick glance. “Just coffee and a breakfast muffin please,” I said. “You’re a waiter now?”

“I mostly work in here, but we’re a little understaffed, so I’m all over the place,” he said as he looked over at a new pair of passengers entering the car. “Be right with you guys!” he called out before running off.

I turned to the two Atlesains at the table with me. “How did you two meet?”

“We both haven’t seen our homeland in a long time, and we wanted to have a chat about it,” Professor Sky responded. “The glaciers of Atlas are cold and unforgiving, but I still miss them. I’ve been busy with my teaching out here in the settlements, and I don’t believe Ms. Schnee’s infamous exploits need explanation.”

Weiss laughed. “Infamous?” Is that what people are saying about me?”

“You’re practically a celebrity from what I’ve heard, my dear.”

Looking at him, I couldn't help but notice that the corners of his mouth seemed to curve up, even with a straight face.

“So… a professor, huh? What do you teach?” I asked.

“Theories on Aura-based technology, mainly how it will progress in the coming years and the implications of these developments.”

“Engineering then?”

“Yes. The existing technology, such as Aura-level scanners, etc. have a limited application. My passion is studying how technology can enhance our Aura capabilities--not that any of my peers seem to understand that. But my opportunity to push the research in the right direction may be closer than I’d thought for a while.” The corners of his mouth curled up even farther into a proper grin before he turned to Weiss. “You mentioned that a friend of yours was studying engineering, yes?”

Weiss nodded. “She’s attending a university near Vacuo. But she’s more mechanically focused than the theories.”

“She should consider it.”

“What’s so special about Aura-tech?” I asked, politely moving the conversation along.

Professor Sky turned to me with a sparkle in his eye. “Every human exhibits an Aura-signal of sorts. Even those who haven’t unlocked theirs, their life force, or the ‘soul’ as the philosophers will claim, has readable energy. Our current technology can barely pick up on it, but I’ve read some interesting papers that speculate that Grimm’s sight and hearing are secondary senses compared to an ability to pick up on this faint energy signal that humans give off. This explains why they only attack humans. And Faunus, of course. It makes sense for monsters that are created from the planet’s Aura itself to be able to pick up on such things.”

“What does this have to do with the tech?”

“Hunters like yourself who have unlocked their Aura's potential can shield themselves from fatal attacks and manifest supernatural abilities that are still baffling to scientific understanding. Within every human is untapped recharging energy, that, if we could replicate artificially, could power entire Kingdoms more efficiently than mounds of Dust crystals ever could."

“Potentially,” Weiss interrupted. “Your theories are too far fetched to have any modern application.”

“Despite the current energy trend being your field of expertise, I firmly believe Dust will be phased out by this new technology.” He chuckled, taking her doubt in stride--I guessed this wasn’t the first time they had this discussion.

Quartz finally brought me my breakfast and coffee, and after I thanked him, he ran off with a smile to help out another passenger.

“But enough about my boring lab work,” the professor said. “How about you, Ms. Scarlatina?”

We talked for a while about my job, the prep work needed to defend a settlement vs. something mobile like a train or a ship. The difficulties or advantages of both. Weiss was able to chime in on a few details from her semester at Beacon, but the conversation mostly stayed between Professor Sky asking questions and me answering them.

After almost fifteen minutes, the professor checked his watch and stood up. “Well, I have my routine to return to,” he said as he shook my hand. “Pleasure meeting you.” 

He turned to Weiss and kissed her hand. 

“If you need anything. my dear, I am at your disposal.”

“Thank you, professor,” Weiss said with a smile.

He grinned and walked out of the dining car, leaving me and Weiss at the table.

I looked down at my plate, and then at Weiss’s. She folded her napkin and sat back as we finally looked across the table at each other.

“You cut your hair,” I said. “It looks good.”

“And you have a ponytail now.”

“Yeah, I cut it and tied it back for combat, but I like how it looks.”

“Nice.”

_ Alright, _ I thought as I decided that instead of failing to small talk all day, I should get the point and address what had been bugging me since yesterday.

“So…” I leaned on the table and lowered my voice. “I can’t help but wonder what  _ you _ are doing on an express line to a  _ Kingdom? _ ”

“Obviously, I’m getting off at a settlement beforehand,” Weiss smirked. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to arrest me.”

I raised an eyebrow and frowned. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I work out here. Have you been under a rock for the last few months? I haven’t exactly been hiding.”

“I’ve been in small settlements. Coco went back to Vale, but I stayed behind, so I’ve been out of the loop of current events lately.”

“Well, after I was released from Vale’s custody and banished, I was approached by several groups for work. Some wanted me to write a book or something, but I eventually started working for an organization that raises funds and resources for building Archive Towers in settlements. We even help with the construction and training of the locals on how to use and maintain them. My history with Dust machinery and problems with the Kingdoms give me some credibility as one of their representatives.”

“Are you a spokesperson?”

“I wear a couple hats in the group, but it’s a living. There’s a settlement called Merene that’s requested our help. I’m just visiting ahead of the rest of the team to see if they meet the qualifications.”

I nodded. “Sounds like you’ve got your footing already.”

“Hopefully,” Weiss sighed. “We just finished construction up north. It was my first job with them, so hopefully, this one goes just as easily.”

Weiss paused as she lowered her head and fiddled with a spoon.

“You made it,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“At least one of us did, I guess.” Weiss laughed for a second but fell silent again. “Are you doing alright?”

“The pay is decent, and I’m helping people,” I said, “so pretty good.”

“That’s good. I’m happy for you.”

With that, Weiss leaned back and stared out the window. 

Back at Beacon, I felt like we got to the point that Weiss could be herself around me. All the walls and defenses she’d built up to protect herself didn’t need to be there when it was just us.

I guess the weight of how much had changed didn’t seem real until that moment.

“Well, I better get going too, I guess,” Weiss excused herself as she stood and turned away from the table.”

“Hey!” I called after her.

Weiss turned, expectantly.

“Um… talk later?” I asked.

Weiss stared back at me. “...Yeah. Of course.”

I smiled in relief. “It’s really good to see you again, Weiss.”

Weiss’s smile finally made its appearance as she turned around and left the dining car.

I scratched the back of my head as I sat alone.

_ That could have gone worse, _ I thought. _ Much worse. _

I got up and walked to the bar. Leaning against it, I looked around for Quartz, who turned out to be a few tables away, getting the orders from the two Militia soldiers I encountered yesterday.

“So this ex-Vale military guy,” Quartz continued a story he was telling the two glaring Mistralians, “he tries to swindle the White Fang out of some money by selling them fake state secrets or something, but he ended up getting caught by some Hunters who thought he was legit defecting. It was a whole thing in the news over there and kinda hilarious when the truth came out.”

“Hey, Quartz!” I called over.

He looked up before nodding goodbye to the two soldiers. “Enjoy your meal, sirs,” he said as he walked over to me.

“Boyd told me last night that you’d be helping me check the turrets today?”

“Picking on the new guy again, huh?” he said. “When do you want to do that?”

“After breakfast rush should be fine. Meet you upfront in an hour?”

He gave me a thumbs up and ran off to help serve an order to another table.

“Friends with a Schnee too?” a nearby voice asked.

I looked a couple seats down the bar from me. That activist, Jade something or other, was eating fried eggs and chewing in my direction.

I sighed and shook my head. “You really don’t have any tact, do you?”

“And you have too much.”

“All right. You’re horribly disagreeable.”

Jade laughed and reached out a hand. “Olivia Jade.”

I took the offer and introduced myself. “See. I’m just getting along with passengers.”

“Passengers that include a so-called professor and a Schnee.”

“Not a fan, I take it?”

“You expect me to eat out of her great and merciful hand like everyone else? First, she betrayed Atlas and the SDC. Then she betrayed the Hunters. Now she supposedly represents the settlement’s interests, but how long until she betrays us too. There’s a pattern, and Weiss Schnee is out for herself, no one else.”

I frowned. No matter what end of the political spectrum, Weiss seemed to be controversial. 

“Maybe if you talked to her, you might get a more nuanced opinion,” I said, hoping I’d be able to do that myself.

Jade laughed. “I know you don't care,” she said as she finished her breakfast, “but a little warning. Schnee’s can’t be trusted. Any of them.”

* * *

“Are we done yet!!!” Quartz called over the wind as he gripped the edge of the train car roof’s hatch. “Another second out here, and my hair will fly off!”

“Almost!” I yelled back. I pushed a button on my Scroll, and the cannon armed itself and went through a systems check. After a complete cycle of its movements and double-checking that it could arm and de-arm itself, the last of the auto-cannons had passed inspection.

_ And… finished, _ I thought. I stepped away from the large Dust gun as it folded down inside of its armored shell.

I checked off the weapons on my Scroll’s to-do list as I walked back toward the hatch, but was distracted when I glanced down through one of the skylights beneath my feet.

Inside the train car, Professor Sky was talking to the two Mistral Militia soldiers. From the older man's body language, it looked like they were harassing him, but the professor's expression was not defensive, he was also angry. I was pretty sure I was peeking in on all of them in the middle of an argument.

After a minute, it appeared that the professor managed to get the two soldiers to back down. They turned away, but not fully convinced by whatever he said to end the conversation. Buzz Cut quietly muttered something to his bald partner as they moved out of sight.

Professor Sky stayed still, now alone in the car beneath me. He took off his glasses to rub his temples and sighed, before turning and looking up at the skylight--

Where I’d already ducked out of view from his piercing eyes.

  
  


Quartz and I climbed back inside the train through the hatch and sealed the exit above us. He felt his hair before grabbing a comb from his vest pocket and smoothed the back of his head.

“Can you distract the boss long enough for me to restart my entire morning haircare routine?” He asked.

“How pampered were you on those cargo trains?” I asked.

“Not enough. Why else do you think I transferred, man? They pay me here to look this good.”

I smirked and fixed my own hair and ears from all the wind outside. “Say, do you know anything about those two Militia guys and Professor Sky?” I asked. The conversation I accidentally spied on hadn’t left my mind during the last few minutes, and Quartz was the best person to ask. “Do they know each other?”

Quartz shrugged. “They all got on board before I did. A couple settlements north of me, I think. But I haven’t noticed anything.”

I sighed. “Nevermind then. I guess you’re just as new to this train as I am.”

“Yeah, it’s full of surprises. Not every day you show up to a new job, and Weiss freaking Schnee is standing down the platform from you…” He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “So, what’s the story between you two?”

“I knew her at Beacon,” I said. “We were just catching up.”

“Last time I checked, Hunters aren’t fond enough of Weiss Schnee to “catch up with her” over breakfast.”

I laughed at his bluntness. “Yeah, I get it. Everyone’s heard of Snowdale.”

“Well, which version of Snowdale?” Quartz raised an eyebrow. “The one where a bunch of terrorists interfered with Atlas justice? The one where a bunch of settlers took credit for Vale stopping an illegal Atlas military operation in their territory? Or the one where heroic settlers fought back the Kingdom hordes? There’s a lot of different “Battle of Snowdales.””

“Yeah, I know. “ I folded my arms and frowned to myself. “That’s the problem.”

“Between that and her connections to the White Fang, everyone’s got an opinion on her,” Quartz said. “Now that I think about it, didn’t it turn out that her sister is a spy for the White Fang or something?”

“She’s not spying for them anymore, obviously,” I said. It would be hard for Winter to spy for them once everyone knew her true allegiances.

“You sure do have special insight on a controversial person, though,” Quartz said.

“No more than anyone else. The last time I saw her was before all that stuff with the White Fang happened. We said goodbye at the Vale station when I was leaving for Vacuo after the Beacon attack. Next thing I knew, a week later, and it’s all over the Network that she was fighting with them far away from Vale, and… I never even heard from her again, even after she got out.”

Quartz looked at me. His expression, usually a sarcastic grin, softened into a smile. “So, you two were close?”

“Yeah…”

“Like… you two shook hands at the train platform, or had a tearful goodbye, or…”

I blushed as I remembered my last-minute confession, as I put a hand under Weiss's chin and pulled her in for a goodbye kiss. It was my last chance to finally show her how I felt before I lost touch with her for a while. Only for "a while" to turn into years.

“Okay, I see how it was,” Quartz’s smirk returned to his face.

“I shouldn't even be talking about this,” I grumbled.  _ You meet one friendly guy, and already you’re spilling all your secrets _ , I yelled at myself.

“Now I’m interested, though. Weiss Schnee and a Hunter, of all people.”

My ears tried to cover my face. “Please.”

“You want relationship advice?”

“No.”

“I can arrange a private dinner. The dining car is my territory.”

“No!”

“Fine. Something more subtle. What you wanna do is show some vulnerability. Chicks like guys who have a softer side, and it probably works with women too.”

“Is this happening right now?”

"Maybe get her to hug you. It's nice and intimate, and you're close, so it gives you options."

“What girls are you doing this to?”

“Play your cards right and Boom!” Quartz clapped his hands and pointed at me. “Laid.”

“...”

“...”

_ “NO!” _

* * *

Something you don't really appreciate about being a Hunter until you start getting field experience is how much time is spent patrolling and sitting on your ass. There I was, in the camera room inside the crew car, on watch. The screens showed feeds from the cameras outside the train, designed to hone in on Grimm. Both the company and I wanted someone monitoring them as often as possible due to the attack up north. It was my shift as I kept vigilant watch for Grimm, that weren't there to distract me from my thoughts.

What is the point of keeping busy to take your mind off things, if your job is doing nothing?

_ You ungrateful, selfish child! _

I flinched as the voice from a long time ago reverberated in my skull.

  
  


“How dare you!” my father yelled across the kitchen table. On one end, my parents stared furiously at me, sitting across from them, not making eye contact.

“A Hunter?” my mother scoffed in disgust. “Did you ever think--”

“I have,” I interrupted. “I have an Aura and a Semblance ability. I unlocked both of them myself. The academies are practically begging for people like me.”

“You’d turn your back on who you are?”

“There are Faunus in settlements who don’t have the walls or protection that we have here in Vale. With this power, I can do something about that,” I said. “I’m not stupid, I know what Hunters are, I know what I’m getting into.”

I looked at my mom. I needed her to understand. She was the one who put it in my head day after day about being “a good Faunus” and looking out for your people…

But the look in her eyes said that I had betrayed everything she’d tried to teach me.

“They will turn you into one of them,” she said. “They will never accept you or see you for who you are!”

I lowered my head. “And neither will you,” I whispered as I stood up and walked away from them.

No one in my family spoke to me for the next few days. Eventually, I got the message, so I packed my things and left...

  
  


My first day at Beacon. I stood at the entrance of the campus, wearing their uniform, the only thing left to do was take the step forward through the gate, and my life as a Hunter would begin. Other students walked inside around me, like they didn’t notice how the towers of the school seemed to lurch above us all. Unaware that stepping forward was a colossal commitment that they could never take back.

The pressure made me want to throw up.

“Hey! Velvet, right?”

I turned to see another freshman, wearing sunglasses and a beret, which were certainly not dress-code.

“Yeah?” I finally responded.

“Apparently, we’re roomies. I’m Coco, by the way.” She put an arm around my shoulders, and together we stepped forward. “So, what’s your story?”

  
  


My Aura-blade pierced through the final Grimm’s jaw, ending the match.

The auditorium buzzer rang as the clock stopped. Combat class was running timed team fights against captured Grimm, a tradition at the end of every school year, and Team CFVY had breezed through it without a single scratch.

Professor Goodwitch’s voice spoke over the loudspeakers, “Ladies and gentlemen. I’m proud to announce that we have a new record.”

I panted for air and leaned on my knees as I stared up at the clock in surprise. “We got the freshman record?”

“Holy shit…” Coco said as she let her minigun fall from her hand and slam against the stage. It only took a moment for her blank face to process our score. Excitement lit up her eyes as she heaved her chest, breathing in before yelling to the entire academy,  _ “SCHOOL RECORD!!!” _

Every student in the audience went wild.

I stood up and turned around, looking at the crowd surrounding us, cheering for me and my team.

Coco ran up to me and tackled me into a hug, still screaming deafeningly in my ear. Fox and Yatsuhashi joined in with her and everyone around us. Even Goodwitch was applauding at the edge of the stage.

I grinned, butterflies filled my chest, and I cheered alongside them all.

  
  


Daydreaming about the past didn’t force the crawl of the rest of my day go by any faster. After dinner and my daily report to the conductor, I restarted my rounds as activity on the train started to wind down for the night. Barely anyone was left wandering around that late as I walked near the back of the train. After another pass back and forth, I planned on going back to my room and try and get some rest for tomorrow morning’s watch.

Making my way through the sleeper car, I glanced outside at the dark moving landscape, only seeing my reflection in the window. Just like the last two days, there wasn’t a Grimm out there.

Over the faint noise of the train passing over the tracks, I heard music notes playing in the distance.

My ears perked up as I turned toward the end of the car, the quiet piano keys were barely audible as the melody seeped out of the lounge toward me.

The piano playing became clear as I opened the door into the end car. I walked forward into the bottom floor lounge and sitting at the piano bench, her back to the entrance, was Weiss. She sat straight, her fingers gliding over the keyboard as she performed to the empty room.

The song’s main melody was played at the higher octaves, full of hope, but it was a fragile cheerfulness, desperately holding back a melancholy, almost like the performer was begging that a precious illusion would never be shattered.

Weiss looked over her shoulder and smiled at the sight of me before turning back to the piano as she continued the piece.

“I forgot you could play,” I said, putting my hands in my jacket as I walked around the piano, glancing inside to see the hammers ring the strings. “It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Weiss beamed as her body swayed with the performance.

“I’ve never heard this one.”

“Oh, it’s nothing in particular. I just picked it up from somewhere.”

I raised an eyebrow. “It’s from one of your video-games, isn’t it?”

Weiss blushed and almost missed a note. “So what if it is?”

I laughed and sat down on a nearby chair to the side of Weiss’s piano bench. “Just kidding around.”

The song came to its closing notes, and Weiss closed the keylid.

“I haven’t practiced in a while, and I figured that it would be more private this late.”

“Sorry I interrupted.”

“You’re more than fine,” Weiss said as she turned toward me. “You’ve shared more of your hobbies than I ever did.”

“Kinda became your hobby too.”

“But you roped me into it in the first place.”

“You were very photogenic,” I said as I shrugged.

“And here I thought you had me model for you because you had a crush on me.”

“Well, even if I was trying to get your attention, it wouldn't have worked, considering I had to kiss you before you caught on.”

Weiss cleared her throat and averted her eyes back to the piano. “In hindsight, I should have seen that coming.”

“Sorry if that was too sudden,” I said. “It was kinda out of nowhere.”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just… you know.”

I cocked my head to the side as my left ear perked up.

Why was she blushing? I mean, it’s not like it was remotely as romantic as I wanted it to be, and it’s not like it was her…

And the pieces finally fit together in my head.

“Was…” I started as my own blush spread across my face. “Was that your first--?”

“Of course it was!” Weiss snapped back and folded her arms. “Inconsiderate of you not to consider that at the time.”

“Sorry about that,” I apologized as my ears bent down.

Weiss turned away with a humph. “I wasn’t asking for an apology,” she mumbled before she sighed and composed herself. “Not that it matters anymore. We’re both adults, and I’m sure you’ve moved on from school crushes.”

“I mean, sure,” I said. “A couple guys in some settlements here or there. I needed to move around for the job, so none of them lasted. How about you?”

“A few relationships with various levels of passion,” Weiss responded dispassionately.

“Nothing that stuck?”

“Not especially.” Weiss leaned back on the bench, propping herself with her arms behind her back. She smirked and raised an eyebrow. “If I didn’t know better, I would say that sounded like you were curious about my relationship status.”

“Like you said,” I sighed. “We’re long past schoolyard crushes. We were just friends, after all.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Weiss stood up and adjusted her jacket sleeves and collar. “So,” she said as she did a quick twirl in front of me, “what do you think?”

“Think about what?” I laughed.

She took a step toward me. Then another. She was standing close above me, putting herself in my space like she belonged there.

“Do you still think I’m photogenic?” she whispered.

Cupping my face in her hands, Weiss lifted my head up toward her. She smiled, looking down at me before she closed her eyes and leaned in closer.

I gripped the armrest of the chair as her short hair rubbed against my forehead, her lips barely parted as she inhaled the air between us expectantly--

“Cut it out,” I said as I pushed her off.

Weiss stumbled back a few steps, confused as I stood up and walked a few paces down the car.

“I can’t keep this up,” I said as I turned back around and glared at Weiss.

Weiss lifted her hands and stepped back. “Was I misreading signals that badly?”

“I can’t keep pretending that there isn’t a herd of elephants in the room right now,” I said. “You never even tried to contact me, Weiss! And now you appear out of nowhere and expect me to pretend that the last three years never happened?”

“To be fair, I was in prison for a good chunk of that.” Weiss frowned and folded her arms. “And it’s not like you ever tried to call.”

“I was busy training on the other side of the continent!”

“Right.”

“You betrayed us. You think I wasn’t mad and confused for years?”

Weiss sighed. “Sorry for assuming that we weren't going to talk about this.”

“Why wouldn’t we talk about this?”

“Because it sucks, Velvet.”

“Well... too bad. Everything we were training for was important. And you just threw it away like it never meant anything.”

“Of course it was important,” Weiss said, gritting her teeth. “You’re the one assuming that it was an easy call, and maybe if you’d stuck around instead of running away, you would understand why I did what I did.”

“My team and I needed to get out of Vale, or we wouldn’t have been able to continue training, and I would make the same choice all over again, given the chance! You, on the other hand, decided to hang out with the fucking White Fang of all people right after they attacked Beacon before picking a fight with Atlas only to get yourself locked up for--”

**_“You weren’t there!”_ ** Weiss snapped, cutting me off and making me realize just how loudly I’d been screaming at her.

I shut up. Weiss’s teeth were clenched like she was ready to snarl at me. Even she was surprised by how much hostility was thrown my direction, backing down as she hung her head, her hair hiding her eyes from me as her folded arms squeezed against her.

“You… you weren't there,” Weiss whispered as she turned and walked over to the window.

I looked down and rubbed the back of my head. I screwed up, and I knew it. Weiss was good at looking strong. I knew some people saw her leaving her family as a brave move, and it was. But I saw how terrified she was under her facade, even if she never admitted it to me. And I knew that I should have known better than vent my selfish frustrations onto someone who’s life had deviated so far from mine.

“What happened at Snowdale, Weiss?” I calmly asked as I locked eyes with her reflection in the window.

Weiss laughed. “What didn’t?”

“Weiss…”

She fell silent again. After looking out for a while, Weiss finally spoke. “They… If we hadn't gotten the people out, Atlas would have killed all of them. Ironwood was out for blood, everyone knows that now, but I don't think people really know how close he got. When the settlers were running away, Atlas managed to corner a group of them in the forest. We’re talking about civilians here. There were kids for god’s sake. They were about to mow them down with a firing squad. If I hadn't…”

I let her talk, and it wasn’t like I would know what to say, even if I could interrupt her. I heard about the reports, but hearing about it from someone who was there, it sounded like a nightmare.

“Obviously, I saved them all,” Weiss continued, “but… if I had been a second late… Those people… those kids…” She squeezed her arm as her reflection trembled. “I did everything right, and if I had done  _ anything _ less, they would have been torn to shreds right in front of me…”

The car fell silent as Weiss did, with only the faint thunking of the train moving over the tracks breaking the tension.

I slowly walked up to her, and we stared at each other in the window.

“I’m sorry, Weiss,” I said. “I… I never meant to rip open an old wound. I just got scared and angry and then… ended up messing it up.”

Weiss laughed sadly. “It was a long time ago, Velvet. I shouldn't have freaked out at you either.”

“No, I deserved that! It’s just… I didn’t expect to meet you again so soon. So I’ve been weird, but that’s not really an excuse.”

Weiss smiled. “I thought that maybe if I just held myself together, we could pick up where I wanted us to from back then, but I guess too much happened.”

“Yeah…”

I felt a hand clasp around mine. I looked down to see Weiss holding my hand. “Thanks for apologizing,” she said. “It means a lot.”

I sighed and hugged her. I should have done this the moment I saw her yesterday. “I care about you, Weiss, that couldn’t change no matter what. If you need anything, I’ll be there.”

Weiss leaned her forehead against my shoulder. “Thanks, Vel.”

She bolted up and looked at me.

“Is that too informal? Can I still call you that?”

I laughed. “Of course.” With all the unspoken baggage vented, and it didn’t seem as bad. Like holding it all in was the real problem all along.

“Hey, Vel?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“What do you want out of this?”

“What do I want?”

“Do you want this to be two friends catching up? A nice little polite goodbye at the end of the night or…” Weiss trailed off.

I looked up and thought about it. “What I want to do right now,” I said, speaking as honestly as I could, “is to make up for lost time.”

Weiss looked at me and before I could react, wrapped her arms around my neck, stood up on her toes and kissed me. A reply to my farewell all those years ago and Weiss was accepting it.

I was tense at first, relaxing more and more every second the kiss lasted. I closed my eyes and kissed back deeply, leaning forward as my hand reached up and held her head in front of mine as I indulged myself.

Weiss gasped for air as she pulled away. My breathing matched her’s as we stood alone in the car, clinging to each other.

“My room’s upstairs in the next car,” I said. “You want to pick this up there?”

“Yes, please,” Weiss said, nodding. “Um… can I grab some stuff from coach really fast?”

“Sure. Room 6B.”

“Got it. Meet you there.” Weiss smiled and ducked out of my hug. She grinned at me, her face beaming as she practically skipped out of the car.

I stepped back and leaned against the wall to catch my breath. I wanted to take a minute to take in what had just happened, but I didn't have any time to waste. I hurried back to my room with a grin that felt like it was going to leap off my face and run on ahead of me.

I threw my jacket onto the chair and let my hair down before taking off my Hunter gear, leaving me with my black turtleneck and cargo pants. I’d looked worse, I guess. A quick visit to the bathroom sink and I washed my face and touched up my deodorant to help a little.

_ Do I have a breath mint? Fuck it, _ I thought before I ended up brushing my teeth, quickly rinsing out my mouth and spitting out the water before running back to the room.

I did a pass through the room and cleaned up my luggage before I just started pacing around, tweaking the pillow on one pass, the alarm clock the next, how did that end up on the floor anyway? Tuck in the corner of the sheet and straighten the blanket, etc.

_ Just chill out. Keep looking cool. You want to impress her. _

A quiet knock on the door ended my mental and physical spiraling. I stood still, faced the door, and took a deep breath before reaching for the handle.

I opened my door to see Weiss standing in the hallway with a suitcase next to her. She smiled and entered the room without a word, and I shut and locked the door behind her.

Weiss tossed off her jacket onto her luggage before pulling off her shirt over her head, letting it fall onto the floor at her feet, a light blue bra the only thing covering her chest.

I glanced up and down her near-topless body. “Just like that?”

“You’re the one who said you wanted to make up for the last three years,” Weiss said, putting a hand on her hip.

I smiled and stepped forward. Looking down at her, I cupped Weiss’s chin in my hands before I leaned down and kissed her again. “I wasn’t complaining.”

Weiss’s next retort was almost on her lips, but I interrupted her by kissing her again, catching her off guard with my tongue before she hummed and smiled. She leaned against me, her body in my arms, rubbing her soft skin against my rough clothes as she reached up around my neck to hold me in place for more.

I finally pulled away, not because I wasn’t enjoying it, but because I had more important things to do. I ripped off my turtleneck and bra, enjoying the grin on Weiss’s face grow as she stepped back and got a look at me. Her eyes bounced between my biceps and breasts. The reaction on her face was a nice perk to the years of training.

I stood up straight, wearing only my cargo pants, and folded my arms under my breasts, giving Weiss a better sight of them.

“Can I have at those?” Weiss mumbled hungrily.

I stepped toward her in response, Weiss palmed and rubbed my breasts as I fiddled with her belt and pulled her pants down.

She kicked them off with her boots and stood in front of me, only wearing her bra and underwear. Despite her slender body, Weiss had stayed in peak physical condition even after abandoning her training years ago, my own hungry gaze taking in her erotic appearance.

Weiss pulled at the edges of her panties with her thumbs, folding the fabric down, showing off her pelvis, just before revealing anything else, teasing me.

“You want some?” she asked, swaying her hip out.

I practically pounced her in response. Weiss fell back onto the mattress, me on top of her pinning her down. My hands gripped her wrists, holding them above her head. If she wanted a reaction out of me, she was going to get it.

She laughed and bit her lip as she waited for me to continue, her chest rising and falling with every excited breath.

“So, I stole your first kiss, huh?” I said. “Why do I have a feeling you’ve had plenty of other firsts since we last saw each other?”

“Well…” Weiss feigned innocence. “Never had anyone fuck me on a train before.”

She kept her arms raised as I moved down her body. I ripped off her panties and tossed them to the other side of the bed, gripped Weiss’s thighs, my thumbs sinking into her firm flesh, and spread her legs, pressing them down into the mattress.

“How long have you been waiting for this, I wonder,” Weiss said.

_ You have no idea, _ I thought. I looked down between her legs, already wet from being at my mercy.

Weiss looked down expectantly. Her bra rose and fell with her chest as her excited breath continued to shake her body, waiting desperately for me to relieve the building sexual pressure.

But I didn't move, I only lowered my lips above her stomach and kissed her abs, moving agonizingly slowly down to her belly button and kissed her again, staying near her navel.

“I can wait a little longer,” I said. 

“Wait, what?”

“Why don’t we take our time?” I wanted to indulge myself, but torturing Weiss was  _ so _ much more fun.

“Please… Velvet…” Weiss squirmed, but my grip kept her legs locked in place. She clenched her fingers into fists, holding herself back as she let me tease her more and more until I finally hovered my mouth over her pussy, letting out a long breath before I finally gave in to my own arousal.

I bent down and moved my tongue along the sides of her outer folds as my grip on her thighs relaxed and went up to Weiss’s waist, holding her as I moved in and slowly licked up her labia.

Weiss fell apart as I started sucking, my tongue moving inside her vagina.

“Oh yeah… finally,” she moaned. Her head rolled to the side, and her legs wrapped around my back, pulling me and my tongue in closer.

I drank her in like I hadn’t had water in days. I loved that Weiss was losing it to me, relenting control and drowning in the pleasure I provided. I reached between her and the sheets and gripped her firm ass, groping and rubbing it as my tongue explored inside her. Already she was like putty in my hands, and I hadn’t even gotten started yet. Knowing that made me more excited.

My mouth parted from Weiss’s pussy. I took a breath, ready for the next stage, only for Weiss to reach for my head on reflex, trying to force me back in there.

“Don’t stop!” she cried as she accidentally grabbed one of my ears.

“Ow.” I squinted and glared up at her.

“Sorry!” Weiss almost sat up in surprise. ‘I didn’t--”

She didn’t get the chance to finish because I went in for the kill, pushing in my middle finger inside her as I started sucking her clit.

“Ohhhaaaaahhhhhh!!!” Weiss’s back arched, and her arms fell harmlessly at her sides.

After I put a second finger inside her and started pumping, I moved my left hand up to Weiss's breast. Reaching under her bra, I pushed the left cup up out of the way as I massaged under it, rubbing and pinching her nipple between my finger and thumb.

Her squirming reached a rhythm, pushing herself against my fingers rubbing inside her, pushing them into just the right spot over and over until--

Weiss bit her lip, suppressing a gasp as she came against my hand. She sank back into the mattress as I pulled my slick fingers out of her. I sat up on the edge of the bed and looked down at Weiss as I licked my fingers clean, her hand on her forehead as she caught her breath. 

“Have fun?” I asked.

Weiss nodded and crossed her legs as she pushed herself up to sit next to me. “I didn’t realize how pent up I was,” she said before kissing me again.

I smiled. Being the cause of her frustration was one thing, but being the one to relieve her of it was so much better.

After she nuzzled against my shoulder for a while, Weiss hopped off the bed. “Okay,” she said as she unclasped her disheveled bra, and walked over to her suitcase, “your turn. You like toys?”

One of my ears perked forward. “It’s been a while… but sure.”

Rummaging through a pocket inside the bag, Weiss produced a small bottle of lube and a purple vibrator. The silicone shaft bent out to two heads on either end, for solo or dual-use if so desired.

“Were you planning this?” I asked as I kicked off my cargo pants.

“I travel a lot,” Weiss said, flipping the vibrator in her hand as she walked back to the bed. “Long trips can get lonely.”

I paused halfway through removing my underwear. Slowly, I looked at Weiss and tilted my head to the side. “You’re riding… in coach!”

“Not while I’m  _ on _ the train, dumbass!!!”

Both of us sat on the bed facing each other. Weiss got onto her knees between my spread legs and slicked the lube over the silicone surface of the dildo. She grinned and switched on the toy, a soft pulsing vibration buzzed from the motor inside as Weiss lowered it lengthwise and rubbed it over my vulva.

I brushed my hair back as I  lay down and rested my hands on my stomach, letting Weiss go to work.

After a moment of waiting, Weiss slipped the wet surface of the dildo inside me, circling the head of the toy around my vagina.

My grin spread as the motor did its job, rubbing in just the right spots. I rocked my hips forward up and down against Weiss’s hand as a groan slipped out of me with a chuckle. It was barely inside me, and I was loving it. I clenched the walls of my pussy around it, feeling every pulse build on all the tension I got from pleasuring Weiss.

“Okay. Really glad you suggested this,” I said.

“Oh?” Weiss smirked. “Then I’ll keep it up.”

She pushed the dildo further inside me. I gripped the bedsheets as she pulled it mostly out and pushed it back in again. In and out the motor and shaft pleasured me, and just as I felt myself building to an early climax, Weiss removed it completely.

I snapped my eyes open and looked down to see why she had stopped, only to see Weiss wearing a sadistic smirk. Of course, she wanted payback for earlier.

I laid my head back and sighed. “I can’t believe you would betray me like this.”

Weiss sat back toward the back of the bed to bask in her glory. “Maybe I’ll take a turn, and then I’ll let you fi--”

With a yelp, Weiss vanished out of sight.

When I sat up, I only saw a pair of legs upside down coming up from behind the edge of the bed.

“Weiss?” I crawled to the edge to see that Weiss had fallen backward off during her teasing. Her head had crashed against the carpet, with her lower body propped up by the side of the bed.

“Ow,” Weiss groaned, and the rest of her body finally fell onto the floor with her.

I snorted down a laugh.

“Shut up!” Weiss pouted.

“What? I didn’t say anything,” I said, barely containing a giggle as I crawled off the bed to join Weiss on the ground.

Weiss slowly sat up and rubbed her skull. “I was trying to be cool.”

“There there,” I said, hugging Weiss and petting her head.

After a few encouraging kisses, I got Weiss back on top of the mattress. We faced each other again, I grabbed the vibrator in Weiss’s hands and guided it back toward my groin. I scooted forward, our legs crossing each other, and the dildo positioned between our pussies.

“Like this?” I asked.

“Yes,” Weiss said. With a push of a second button, both ends of the dildo started to vibrate and pulse. “Now, just follow my lead.”

The toy in our hands buzzed, just as eager as we were for what came next. Both of us scooted forward, locking our legs around each other as the vibrator penetrated both of us, sliding inside.

I grabbed Weiss’s thighs, rubbing them up and down as the vibrations coursed through my body. Through Weiss’s legs and her arms grabbing my shoulders, I could feel the other head of the dildo’s work pleasuring her as well.

Weiss bucked her hips forward, pushing the toy inside both of us even more. It pressed up against my inner walls, stimulating just the right spots for sexual ecstasy to spread like butterflies in my abdomen. Our breathing got heavier, keeping up with our rougher movements.

I reached down with one hand and started rubbing my clit as I bounced up and down against Weiss, getting closer and closer to release. Every pulse from the toy fucking us, getting me closer to my climax.

“Come on,” I gasped, helping the vibrator do its job as I pinched my clit, moments away from climax. “Just a little... Ahhhhhhhhh!”

My orgasm dripped down the dildo as I finished, mixing in with the lube leaking onto the sheets as pleasure shot up my spine and made me lightheaded.

“Wow,” I said as I caught my breath and fell back, slipping off Weiss’s toy as my head hit the pillow.

Weiss lay next to me, now gripping the vibrator with both hands and pushed it in and out of herself. The sight of me calming down from an orgasm pushed her closer to a second of her own as she continued masturbating.

I rolled over to my side and kissed up Weiss’s shoulder as I pulled her into my arms.

“Velvet… I’m… I’m…”

Weiss clenched her teeth as she lay back against my chest, my hand sliding down her arm until it helped her rub the toy in and out of her vagina.

“Gonna… Vel, I’m coming--!”

Weiss shuttered and arched her back, squeezing her lips together to muffle a squeak as she orgasmed.

The vibrator was shut off and put to the side. I exhaled and gripped Weiss’s fingers in my own as we both calmed down from our climaxes. Our bodies pressed against each other on top of the cold sheets. After everything, only the sound of the train passing over the rails filled the room now that our intimacy had died down.

I sat up and pulled Weiss in for another kiss. “God, I missed you!”

  
  


A pair of showers and an after-sex clean-up later, Weiss and I were cuddled together on the bed with the lights out. I was wearing sweats and a t-shirt, and Weiss had changed into an undershirt and PJ bottoms she'd fished out of her luggage. She was curled up in the middle of the bed as I hugged her from behind.

My ears rested down against my shoulders as I played with Weiss’s hair, twirling it in my fingers. As silly as it was, I really wanted something to focus on to avoid the train movements lulling me to sleep. The feeling of someone next to me, someone willing to let me hold them, it was too peaceful to waste dreaming through.

I rested my cheek against Weiss’s head. “Thank you,” I whispered, not sure if Weiss was still awake to hear.

“For what?” Weiss asked, almost half-asleep as she shuffled into a more comfortable spot of her pillow.

“I…” I paused. I reached down and put Weiss’s hand in mine. “I haven’t been able to act like myself around anyone for a while and… I really just needed someone right now.”

Weiss wordlessly shuffled back, further into my cuddle, pulling our hands up and locking herself into my arms.

I smiled and closed my eyes. I would treasure this moment together, for as long as I could.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Weiss and I woke up early enough to lounge around in our pajamas as the soft morning sunlight seeped into the room between us. Weiss was on the bed, playing a game on her Scroll, and I was sitting cross-legged on the chair, looking through old pictures on my camera.

After a little searching, I found all the old photos I took of Weiss back at Beacon, hidden away in an old memory card I'd forgotten about. Our old hobby resulted in more pictures than I remembered, but somehow I'd never gotten rid of them. I looked through the ones I took of Weiss at that dance we ditched, then swimsuit shots at a pool, a nice profile of Weiss looking out a bus window, and so on. A series of them were of Weiss in a sundress posing at the edge of a fountain. The next picture captured her falling in. The next was a soaked Weiss. Then another soaked Weiss trying to grab the camera away from the laughing photographer.

I giggled a little as I played the memory through my head and glanced up to make sure Weiss didn’t notice. Luckily she was too focused on her little pixel man jumping through pixel traps. Weiss would be embarrassed if I told her, but she looked adorable in her PJs, sticking out her tongue a little in concentration.

Discreetly lifting my camera, I framed Weiss in the shot and snapped a new picture to the collection.

Weiss looked up with the sound of the shutter and smiled before returning her attention back to her game.

So I snapped another picture.

“Collecting compromising photos?” Weiss asked.

“If compromising means cute, then you’re always compromised,” I replied as I snapped another picture.

Weiss kept playing on her Scroll and laid down on her side, facing the lens, of course. After I snapped a couple cute shots, she moved to the edge of the bed and leaned off it upside down, holding her game in front of her, draping herself for another set of photos. Apparently, old habits die hard for both of us as we fell back into our nostalgic routine.

After a few more poses, Weiss set the game to the side and lay back on the bed, closing her eyes and snuggling into the pillows as I captured her image again. She rolled over and faced me on her stomach. Putting her hands under her chin, Weiss smiled sweetly as she lightly swung her feet in the air behind her.

I stood up to get a better view of her. The shutter snapped several times, her image like a living snow angel on my bed. But between two shots I took, her celestial smile turned devilish. With a mischievous shine in her eyes, Weiss planned her next move.

Weiss got up and rolled onto her back, lifting her knees and sliding her feet under them. It took me a second to process what she was doing, not until she had slowly pulled the waist of her pajama bottoms down, pausing when they were wrapped around her knees. She froze in that pose, her panties peeking out from under her shirt as she waited for me.

“Well?” Weiss asked, prompting me to continue.

My ears perked forward as I got a good look at her. The sides of her panties under her were slid up, her butt pressed against the sheets. Her smooth pale thighs reflected the morning sunlight, held a few inches apart, leaving a clear view for the camera.

After a couple more pictures, Weiss finished kicking off her pants. “How far do you want this to go?” Weiss asked, grabbing the bottom of her shirt.

“How far are you willing to go?” I asked back, snapping another picture.

Weiss sat up. She rustled both her hands through her short hair, her undershirt lifting up and showing off her midriff above her panties. I bent down to snap some shots from a lower angle. Then she turned her back to me and took her shirt off, letting me get some nice backshots and a few of her looking at me over her bare shoulder.

Her hair brushed against the back of her exposed neck, her pale back looked as if it were sculpted out of marble.

“You’re beautiful,” I whispered.

Weiss laughed. “I have my days.”

She picked back up her Scroll and turned around, positioning the device in front of her chest, tantalizingly hiding her breasts from my camera’s sight. In between shots, she casually tossed the Scroll away again. Weiss sat on the bed, exposed, only wearing her pale blue panties.

“You sure?” I asked, peaking over my camera.

“I trust you,” Weiss said. “You’re too selfish to let anyone see them anyway.”

“You’re goddamn right, I am,” I said. “Trustworthy--that is.”

Weiss cupped her breasts and grinned at the camera. “I knew it! You’ve wanted to do this for a _long_ time.”

“I’ll have you know, I am a professional amateur, Weiss,” I proclaimed in offense as I eagerly snapped photos. “Acting like you’re my first NSFW shoot, who do you think you are? Arrogance is only _sometimes_ hot on you.”

Weiss lay down again and pulled her panties halfway down on one side, just shy of revealing her privates. “What about right now? Are you feeling professional?”

I took one last photo and looked at her. Finally, I set the camera down and said what Weiss had been trying to get across this whole time. “You want to have sex.”

“Took you long enough. _God!_ ”

I pulled off my pants and hopped onto the bed next to Weiss. I put my hand on the back of her head and pulled her in for a long kiss.

“We’re missing breakfast?” I asked.

“Fuck breakfast,” Weiss mumbled into my lips.

I lowered my head, kissing down her neck to her collarbone and beyond, grabbing and putting one of her tits in my mouth. “I’d rather fuck you.”

Weiss casually reached a freehand down into her panties and hummed curiously. “Good to know I’m sexier than a bowl of cereal.”

I glared up at her. “You know how to kill a mood, you know that?”

“You’re the one who made the stupid breakfast joke.”

“I’m ending it _now_ , and I’ll never try to talk dirty to you again.” I sat up and quickly pulled off my shirt. “Distraction!” I yelled, dramatically revealing my breasts.

“It’s working!” Weiss shouted back, removing her hand from her crotch. “Keep it going while I play with these.”

“What about me?” I asked, slipping a finger through her already slick folds as she reached between us to fondle me.

“I’ll get to it,” Weiss said as she massaged my breasts, grabbing onto them from underneath and pushing them up and together. “I can’t believe you were hiding these the whole time.” She scooted forward to give me better access inside her panties and mashed her perky chest against mine. One hand broke off from my chest and slid down my abdomen and into my underwear. Her hand covered my crotch and she slipped her middle finger inside me.

Weiss leaned her head against my shoulder and started kissing my neck. “You wear that turtleneck, right?” she asked.

"Yeah," I mumbled. I kept fingering her, trying to focus through the feeling of her teasing my chest with one hand, and my vaginal walls clenching around the fingers on her other.

“Good.” Weiss grazed her teeth against my neck, finding a nice spot before biting and sucking the skin.

I hummed through a chuckle, squirming as she attacked from three fronts. I wasn’t prepared for how much I would like biting, so I pulled her in for another kiss to distract myself from the possibility of it awakening something in me.

Weiss hefted herself up and climbed into my lap. She leaned my head up and kissed me from above, keeping my fingers inside her as she forced me to hold her up, still obsessively feeling up my chest with her left hand.

I looked up at her. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re a brat?”

“Who me?” Weiss moved her hand up and held it against my cheek before kissing me deeply. “ _Never_.”

I lay back, and we cuddled on the bed, slowly rubbing our fingers in and out of the other, our underwear rubbing against each other as our hands squirmed underneath. I was feeling good, but it wasn’t long before I noticed that Weiss was already getting close to her orgasm. Her knees were lifting her up as she pressed her upper body against mine like she was unconsciously leaning into the pleasure. She had a hair-trigger, I could tell, and I was willing to let myself cum early if we were able to do it at the same time. It was more fun that way.

I bucked my hips as Weiss started grinding on top of me against my hand. Weiss kissed me, biting my lip as her knees and toes pressed into the sheets to push my fingers against the right spot deep inside her core. Sexual euphoria built up between us as we stimulated each other.

I pumped my curved fingers while working her clitoris with my thumb. Weiss's own technique was a little clumsy. She might have even brought out the vibrator last night to compensate for it, but between fingering me, playing with my chest, and resting her almost quivering body on top of mine, I easily relaxed and let out a heavy gasp just as Weiss's legs clenched, both of us reaching our climaxes together.

Pleasure erupted against each other’s hands, soaking our panties that we forgot to take off. The wet fabric stuck to our thighs and hands as our mutual orgasm mixed together. Our chests, still pressed against each other, heaved as we caught our breaths, and Weiss lay her head down on my shoulder as we both settled down from our passionate activity.

“I figured that would be a good way to start the morning,” Weiss said as she rolled off me.

“I think you’re right.” I laid my head against hers and nuzzled her cheek.

After some more kissing, I finally built up the strength to leave Weiss’s arms. “I’ll get some towels.” I climbed off the bed and grabbed one from the bathroom, tossing another to Weiss, who cleaned her hands. She removed her soaked panties and dried her crotch as I did the same. Weiss lay down, staring at the corner of the ceiling, a peaceful smile across her face.

Cleaning myself up. I got out my clothes and gear for the day and put on new underwear.

“Done already?” Weiss asked.

“I start my watch in fifteen, so don’t tempt me.” I adjusted my boobs in a sports bra before grabbing my clothes. “You can stay here if you want. For the rest of the trip, I mean.”

Weiss sat up at my offer. “You mean it?”

I put on my turtleneck and pants. “Sure! Bed’s big. It’ll give the other passengers something to gossip about too.”

Weiss laughed at that.

“Here.” I held out my room key. “You can have it. My Scroll can open any door anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal if you lock me out.”

“Velvet, I--” She took the key and looked at it, before looking up at me with a new expression. “You just want to keep me around so we can fuck again, don’t you?”

“No duh,” I said, “but I also like your personality.”

Weiss giggled. “Alright, I’ll stick around. Better lounging in here than in coach anyway.”

I walked over to her and brushed my hand through her hair. “And maybe tonight I’ll have some time to continue this.” I leaned down and gave Weiss a goodbye kiss.

“I’ll wait up,” Weiss said.

“You better, because I’m going to take that dildo of yours and--”

An ear-piercing alarm howled through the intercom.

My ears shot down against my skull as I winced in pain. Outside my room’s window, the lockdown shutter slammed down, separating the morning sunlight from us.

I sprang up and put on my holster and boots in a few seconds before I ran for the door. “Stay here!” I yelled behind me as I grabbed my jacket and ran into the hall, leaving Weiss behind.

I pulled out my radio as I ran through the dark train car. “What’s going on?!”

“You need to get out there, Velvet!” a voice called me back. I recognized it from the attendant who was scheduled to be on lockout before me this morning. Her voice was screaming in panic. “I-I’ve never… Oh gods, help!”

I slipped my jacket on and tied my hair back before reaching the ladder up to the top of the train. The lookout wasn't supposed to flip the lockdown switch without trying to contact me. It was the protocol, so what in the world was--

I pushed open the hatch and climbed up, pushing against the roaring wind as I stood up on the roof of the train traveling down the bottom of a canyon. I ran down the length of the car, before stopping in my tracks.

My first thought was that it was a wave, there were so many of them that counting would have been pointless. A flood of dark creatures with shining claws, spikes, and teeth, poured into the canyon behind the train, frantically pursuing it as they chased up the railroad toward me.

I was almost too stunned to move. I’d fought Grimm many times in my short career, from small packs to swarms, but…

I’d never seen that many Grimm before.

I didn't know how to process it. I felt too numb to move, but the fear finally settled in, forcing me to realize I wasn't dreaming. I activated my Aura. A blast of energy shot out across the roof of the train as blazing white energy surrounded me like a flame. I wove the energy in my hand into something solid, constructing Yatsuhashi's greatsword in an instant.

I took a breath. The Grimm were getting close, running faster and more desperate than I’d ever seen a Grimm run before. Their mouths hung open like they were making a mad dash for the first meal they’d had in their entire lives. Screaming in pain and rage that sounded like a hurricane hunting me down.

I lowered my body and held the massive sword out to my side, a defensive stance, ready to strike down the first Grimm that reached me. The turrets on the last three cars all activated and started firing on the swarm, chipping a monster or two off the front, but ineffective against the tidal wave bearing down on them.

I braced myself and tried to stay focused on the mission, burying what was about to happen to me and every other human on this train deep down. Steadying my breath, the Grimm reached the edge of the last car. It felt like the train had just hit dark rapids about to engulf all of us. I tensed my muscles, knowing exactly when the first row of monsters would make it to me through the guns. I gripped the handle of my weapon and swung forward just as--

Just as they never came… The Grimm started running _around_ the train. Like a roaring river around a stone, the Grimm poured around the train, their marathon uninterrupted.

I stood up out of my stance and stared around me, slack-jawed at their behavior. Grimm would always attack humans on sight, it was literally impossible for them to ignore one, let alone a train full of them. The auto-cannons around me didn’t bother with confusion, blasting away at the Grimm horde that had already thinned by splitting around the train. The canons were able to easily blast away at their ranks, killing dozens of them a second, but with every corpse, two more Grimm raced over them to take their place near the front of the pack.

With one of the Beowolves leaping on top of the train with me, I managed to put aside my bewilderment and rushed toward it. Cleaving it in half, I projected a pair of smaller swords mid-air and launched them at a second Grimm climbing up the side of the dining car behind me, impaling it in the shoulder and neck. It roared in pain as it fell back into the swarm, lost in inky waters, and finished off by the trampling of its fellow monsters.

_We should have been torn to shreds by now,_ I thought as I ran further up the train, following the Grimm’s path. _Where the hell are they going?_

Despite my attempt to get to the front of the pack, the Grimm were running too fast. Peeking down, I saw that they were tearing themselves apart by effort, bones breaking as they pushed themselves forward. A few more tried to climb on board, but between the armor and cannons, and a quick weapon conjuring from myself, none of them lasted long. I thought as much when I killed the first two, but these Grimm were unnaturally brittle.

I ran forward, a Grimm to my left shot apart on two sides by Dust cannons, another noticing me for the first time as I rushed up to it with a large scythe and sliced it up the middle, splitting it evenly for me to rush through. Conjuring a spear that I impaled into a third and throwing a sharp boomerang into yet another, decapitating it, it’s head flying up as I kept running with the swarm. Each Grimm below and up on top looked starved and atrophied. Their bodies were covered in slick slime that looked like embryonic fluid that dripped off of them, splattering the edges of the train just by running past.

I cut down another pair of Beowolves that could barely support their own weight on their hind legs, their gore and viscera flying behind me as I ran forward. The front of the swarm had reached the first couple of cars, just between the baggage and Dust cars. One or two finally decided to start slamming their bodies against the side of the train when--they all stopped.

Every last Grimm froze in their tracks, the momentum of their charge carrying them crashing into each other. They toppled like dominos over one another as they all fell along the rails of the train.

I stopped my pursuit and surveyed my surroundings. All around me, what looked like a thousand Grimm were dazed and injured, collapsed against the ground in heaps of wet meat, slowly stirring like they were shaking off a hibernation. The train pulled out of the clutches of the horde as I looked behind us, completely baffled.

The train soon crossed a bend in the rails and over a bridge to the other side of the canyon, just in time for the Grimm to slowly start climbing back to their feet and gather their senses, but not recovering in time before the train was at a safe distance down the tracks, too far for them to catch up.

Once the danger had passed, I shut off my Aura. The energy strengthening my body left me, and I collapsed against the metal roof of the train. I had fought for mere moments, but I was exhausted. My brain buzzed, like everything I had seen was wrong, still having a hard time accepting that any of that was real.

_What the hell?_ I thought over and over again. The reality of what just happened sitting in. Me and every passenger aboard the Mistral Express had come a hair's breadth away from death, and I had no idea why, or how we managed to escape

* * *

The lockdown lifted as I climbed back inside the train. As I marched to the front, the passengers I passed all looked around in concern, unaware of just how many Grimm had been a plate of armor away from tearing them to shreds. I finally found the conductor in his office in the crew car, just as confused as the rest of the train’s occupants.

“We’re in the clear,” I said. “What happened with the lookout?”

“Crystal was on watch when she spotted Grimm and flipped the alarm,” Boyd said. "She's been fine during lockdowns in the past. I've never seen her so scared before, so I had her go lie down for a while."

I nodded. I wanted to do the same, but there wasn’t any time. Trains like this one were fitted to defend easily against even dozens of Grimm. The sight of hundreds, if not more, would disturb even Hunters with years more experience than myself.

“Have someone double-check the engine. If we need to stop for repairs, I need to know hours in advance,” I said.

Two pairs of feet ran down the hall and stopped at the door of the office. Weiss (now fully clothed) and Quartz both stopping when they caught sight of me.

“What happened?” Weiss asked.

“Please return to the passenger car, ma’am,” Boyd responded to the passenger in the crew car.

“She’s a friend of Velvet’s, boss,” Quartz spoke up. “We ran into each other looking for her. What’s going on?”

“Grimm swarm,” I answered them. I turned back to the conductor. “We need to contact all nearby settlements to be on high alert. There’s a massive horde out here, and their behavior is bizarre.”

Weiss laughed nervously. “You’re talking like you just saw a class-four swarm or something.”

“You know how no one’s ever seen a class-five since The Calamity?” I said.

Weiss realized what we were dealing with by my answer. “Oh my god…”

Quartz looked between us. “Wait… what does that mean?”

“Bad,” I said. I briefly explained what had happened out there, the details confusing Weiss just as much as I had been minutes earlier. “What do any of you know about that Atlas base breach up north a few days back?”

Conductor Boyd shrugged. “The base’s communication was knocked out so they couldn’t call for help,” he said. “But the details of the attack haven't been released to the public. Do you think it’s connected?”

That Grimm swarm out there could have torn through a Kingdom’s defenses if it wanted to. A small military research base wouldn’t stand a chance, but the only thing I said back to the conductor was, “Probably. When do we hit the dead zone and loose signal?”

“This evening,” Boyd said.

"Get that message out to every settlement on this side of the continent while we can. And tell the crew to be on high alert, but they better not work up the passengers."

The conductor stood up to go talk to the rest of the crew. He nodded at Quartz to spread the word before leaving the three of us standing in his office alone.

Weiss leaned against the wall near the door and folded her arms. “What do you think? Grimm hordes that big don’t just happen.”

“We’re in a dense area,” I said. “But even if every single Grimm in a ten-mile radius decided to make a bee-line for the train, it still wouldn't have been enough for what I saw out there. But…”

“But?”

“It didn’t feel like the train was their target. At least at first, almost like the Grimm were heading somewhere else, and we just happened to pass by at the same time. But that still doesn't explain why they broke off their attack.”

The more I thought about it, the more I knew I was in way over my head with this job.

“Do you need any help?” Weiss asked.

I looked over at her. Even after three years, Weiss was probably still a formidable fighter. If another attack came, I couldn’t bet on it ending as easily as today. If I was smart, I’d use anyone I could get to help me fight them off.

“I’ll handle this,” I responded, it was my duty after all. “You’re a civilian now.”

Weiss nodded and looked away. “Okay, you’re busy. I’ll see you later.” She turned to Quartz. “Sorry about bursting in here like this.”

“No problem at all. I practically led you here. But if I could just cut in here," he said as he looked toward me, “besides you, Velvet, Schnee.. err... Weiss here is probably the most experienced at killing Grimm on this train. Maybe she could..."

I shot him a look. What part of “I would handle this” did he not understand. Weiss turned her back on this, and I wasn’t going to turn to her unless I had to.

“Just saying,” Quartz said. “If this is as scary as you say, then we need all the help we can get. I’ve seen Hunters operate, and the rest of us don’t stand a chance. I’m sure my boss wouldn’t mind stretching the regulations for an emergency…” he trailed off.

Before I could respond, Weiss said, “It’s Velvet’s job. I trust her judgment, so I’ll only butt in if it’s a worst-case scenario.” 

Quartz shrugged. “If she’s got it, then she’s got it, I guess.”

Weiss turned back to me. “I’ll head back to the room, just… keep me in the loop. Please?”

I nodded, and with a faint smile, Weiss turned to the door.

“Oh!” Quartz spoke up. “By the way,” he turned to Weiss, rubbing the back of his head bashfully, “I’ve been looking for an excuse to let you know I was a huge fan of The Golden Dragon.”

Weiss smiled. “I’ll pass the message on that I met a fan,” she said before walking back to the passenger cars.

“Thanks!” Quartz called after her and put his hands in his vest pockets.

I tilted my head to the side, confused, but decided to ignore whatever that was for now.

Quartz turned back to me with a creeping grin, his personality shifting from respectable to his true form that had been revealed to me yesterday. “So, you and her?”

“None of your business, Quartz.”

“I see you didn’t need the dinner date I offered. Good for you.”

I frowned.

“Did you, you know, take any of my advice?”

“I don’t think 'tricking her into hugging me' was real advice, if that’s what you mean,” I said. “And… I was the one who ended up hugging her.”

“Ah, so she beat you to the punch? Smart lady.”

“I refuse to believe you know anything about seduction.”

“Well, I have to test my ideas out somewhere before trying them myself. I’m not that stupid, and Schnee proved me right this time.”

I punched his arm, and Quartz laughed. After a second, I laughed too.

“She must have gotten you good if you’re trying to keep her out of danger and everything,” Quartz said. “That was kinda cute of you.”

I laughed to feign embarrassment. Weiss could handle the Grimm, that wasn't the problem. I just didn't want to think about what my real problem with Weiss helping was.

“So,” Quartz said, his tone getting serious. “If another one of those ‘swarms’ or whatever show up, how screwed are we?”

“I honestly don’t know how we’re not all dead right now,” I said with brutal honesty.

Blood rushed out of Quartz’s face as he looked to the front of the train. “Oh…”

“We got lucky,” I said. “Hopefully, that means something.”

* * *

Hours later, by the time the dining car was getting ready to start serving lunch, I had finished going through the train, and thoroughly triple-checking the defenses and armor. I was satisfied with the security, but everyone on board was still tense from the lockdown, and the crew was not as good at hiding their fear as I would have liked them to be. 

My patrol lead me to the back of the train and up into the observation car. There, standing in front of the large dome-like window, was Weiss, staring out at the passing landscape.

I walked up and leaned on the rail next to her. “The Golden Dragon?” I asked.

Weiss laughed. “Yang really liked her prison name, so she kept it for her martial arts career.”

“Oh yeah?” I laughed. Of course Yang got herself a prison name. “Didn’t she get pretty far in her first tournament?”

"Third place, and she's aiming for the championship next year. She's been busy lately." Weiss looked over at me. "I'm guessing you're going to be pretty busy too?"

“This job is going to be crazier than I thought,” I said. “Sorry.”

Weiss sighed. “Serves me right for romancing someone who’s on-call twenty-four hours a day.” She hugged her arms against herself as she stared longingly out at the untouchable sky stretching beyond the mountains surrounding us. The time that the two of us had left onboard had dropped significantly after the new crisis. Only a little more than a day after we passed through the dead zone, and Weiss would leave at her stop, and I would carry on just like I always did.

My ears laid down at the back of my head. “So, what do we do?”

Weiss raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Do you want to exchange Scroll numbers, or never talk again once you get off at Merene?”

Weiss looked down at her hands, clasped together, dare I even say fiddling with them as she searched for an answer. “I like you, Vel,” she said, “but you have your life, and I have mine.”

“Yeah, I figured that’s how it would be,” I said, reality settling in after a night of passion.

Weiss smiled contently. “There is something romantic about meeting like this. Two ships passing in the night, then going our separate ways, God knows when we’ll see each other again. I can be happy with that.”

I smirked. “You sound like you’ve been reading too many romance novels, or you dreamt too much last night.”

Weiss laughed at herself before growing quiet. “Well, we all have to wake up from the dream sometime.”

There was a long silence. I stood up straight and put on a smile for her. "If you change your mind," I said as I pulled out a small slip of paper I'd written on earlier. I slid it across the rail toward her. "Or if you need someone to talk to."

Weiss looked at it. “Hmm.” She smirked and took the paper with my Scroll number on it, looked it over, and put it inside her jacket pocket. “Thanks, Vel.”

I stretched my arms out and grunted. “Well, I don't have much time, but I can do a quick lunch if you want.”

Weiss stood up away from the rail. “Sure!” she said, perking up. “I need to grab something from my luggage, but I’ll meet you there.”

Weiss kissed me on the cheek and walked out of the car.

  
  


On my own, I walked through the cars back into the dining car at the same time that Conductor Boyd walked in from the other side. We both stood next to the bar and conversed quietly.

“The coastal settlements responded and said they would spread the message around,” he said. “Also, they will try to send us any news if Mistral or anyone else knows more than we do.”

“Hopefully someone knows something,” I said. Someone smarter than me who could actually wrap their head around it.

The conductor looked at the tables. “That’s odd.”

“What?” I looked around. Only one or two passengers had shown up for lunch, but the rest would be filtering in any minute now.

“It’s nothing, it’s just… Professor Sky has missed two meals in a row now.”

“So?”

“He’s incredibly punctual, obsessed with establishing a schedule, from what I’ve seen. During the last few days, he’s always arrived early for his meals until today, and he seemed fine when I saw him an hour ago.”

“He wasn’t acting weird?”

“Just asking about the lockdown, just like everyone else.”

“Huh.”

“I’m probably just paying too much attention,” he said shaking off his thought. “Don’t mind me.”

I shrugged, not really worried about his concerns, and looked around for the best table to sit with Weiss--

A small pop rang out in the background. My ears perked up. Behind the noise of the train tracks and the dining car, I heard a sound. A sound I could have sworn was--

“Did you hear that?” I asked.

“Did something hit one of the cars?” Boyd asked.

“No… I think--” I took a step back toward the sleeper car, just as I was about to reach out for the door to the next car, a muffled scream rang out.

I ripped open the door and started running, the conductor hot on my heels behind me. I raced up to the top floor of the sleeper car and, down the hall, spotted the source.

Jade, the hostile passenger I'd run into a few times during the last few days, was collapsed against the wall of the car. She stared through an open door inside one of the sleeper compartments.

“He’s…” Jade stammered, her eyes wide, locked on something in front of her. “He’s…”

“The professor’s room,” Boyd gasped as he caught up to me.

I walked forward. From down the car, I could hear the wind rushing into the room from an open window, scattering papers outside the doorway.

As we approached, only a few steps away from the entrance, Weiss came out of my room behind us, rushing up to see what all the commotion was about.

“Did someone fire a Dust pistol?” Weiss asked, following close behind.

The conductor and I looked inside the professor’s room. The emergency exit latch had been pulled on the window. The plane of glass lay on the floor as the wind from outside rushed over the room's occupant.

“Oh my god,” Weiss gasped when she saw him, covering her mouth with her hand.

Professor Sky was slumped against the wall near his bed. Crimson blood splattered around his body, pooling under him as it dripped from the bullet hole in his forehead.


	4. Chapter 4

While Conductor Boyd calmed a small crowd of concerned passengers gathered out in the hall, I investigated the murder scene we’d discovered inside the professor’s room.

Professor Sky’s body had collapsed near the wall after being shot through the head. The window was lying next to him, ripped from its frame by someone pulling the emergency exit release handle at the side. Sky’s luggage had been torn open and scattered around the room. None of his money, devices, or valuables had been taken. At least nothing obvious. I was careful not to touch anything, tiptoeing around the room as I looked for any clues to what happened only minutes earlier.

Being the one who discovered the body, Jade managed to calm down and recount what she saw before the other passengers started showing up. Jade had been walking through the bottom of the sleeper car when she heard the gunshot upstairs. Running up, she found the door wide open, revealing the body, but no murderer. She screamed, and that was when the conductor and I came running.

I looked at the body. It probably wasn’t a good sign that I wasn’t too bothered by this. But it wasn’t like it was the first time I found a body on the job. Just a reality of dealing with Grimm. I’d even caused some by killing marauders and bandits who attacked the settlements and caravans I was protecting.

I crouched down and looked at the wound and the hole in the wall. It wasn't uncommon for sidearms used by Hunters, especially Atlas Specialists, to use bullets that caliber. Without professional forensics, that was all I could glean from it.

My own sidearm was a similar, if not the same caliber. I pulled my gun out and looked at it, checking the ammo. Still a full clip, just like it had been from the beginning of the journey.

_ Good news, _ I thought. _ I didn’t kill the guy. _ With one suspect down, I removed one of the Dust rounds and rolled the bullet and shell between my finger and thumb.

Carefully, I searched under the bed and around the body. The spent casing from the shot that killed the professor was nowhere to be found.

_ Interesting _ , I thought as I stood back up.

Exiting the room, I closed the door and looked at the electrical lock on the outside. There were some burn marks on the edges, and one of the LED lights was glitched out. Clear signs of tampering. Some sort of crude gadget used to fry Dust circuits and release the bolt if I had to guess.

Using my Hunter Scroll that gave me full access to the train’s systems, I sealed the lock closed and walked over to the conductor who was waiting for me in the hall after chasing off the small crowd.

“Camera spot anything?” I asked, pointing to one down at the end of the car.

“We just checked,” Boyd said quietly. “Someone turned them off and deleted the last hour of the recording.”

“Who had access to that footage?”

“Any of the attendants, myself, and you.”

“Someone with a master key didn’t do this,” I said, pointing to the tampered lock.

“We’re a little lax on security, so I don’t see why even a passenger couldn't have walked in and deleted the files.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s a pretty big risk you don’t seem too bothered about.”

“We’re more focused on threats outside of the train than inside,” Boyd said. “But I agree.”

“Fair… so we have nothing,” I said before briefly telling him what I found inside the room.

Boyd paced in front of the door. “Whoever it was, wouldn’t have had time to dig through the professor’s things after the murder, so they did it beforehand…”

“If he was killed because he walked in on someone going through his things, his body would be in the doorway or out in the hall, not near the window.”

“So he breaks in, probably holds Professor Sky at gunpoint while he searches through his stuff, kills him for whatever sick reason, and what? Opens the window and throws away the gun before making a run for it?”

“It’s miles down the track by now if that’s the case,” I said, crossing my arms.

“First the Grimm attack and now this,” Boyd said. “The last thing the passengers need to hear is that some mad gunman is breaking into rooms and murdering people.”

“I’m not so sure this is random. If it was, they wouldn’t have searched his stuff. And if it was a robbery, then why didn’t they take anything?”

“I’m no investigator, far from it,” Boyd said, “but there have to be a hundred better ways to kill a guy than barge into his room and shoot him in the middle of the day. They could have just shoved him out the window. He’s a slender man, he would have fit.”

“And yet, they were smart enough to get rid of the shell casing,” I said. “It’s a contradiction.”

“Either way,” Boyd said. “The only thing we can do is seal up the room and wait until we get to the next settlement in a few days and have their authorities look at it.”

I nodded. "In the meantime, I'll take charge of finding out anything I can about who did this."

“This isn’t--”

“Protecting the passengers is my job, and someone onboard is threatening them.”

Boyd nodded. “Then I’ll support your investigation anyway I can. What’s your plan?”

“The murder happened right before the body was discovered,” I said. “Which means, here’s the best place to start asking questions.”

  
  


Starting from the bottom of the car and moving up, I talked to all the passengers I could find who were nearby during the shooting. A family in one room, some garage business vice-president and his roommate next to them, a musician in another, but even after the first half-dozen interviews, nothing stood out.

My next stop was the room were the two Mistral Militia soldiers were bunking, just two doors down from the murder. As I knocked, I heard voices raised inside, the argument silencing as soon as they were interrupted.

Buzz Cut--who I’d learned was named Bruno--was the one who opened the door. He frowned as soon as he saw who it was. “What do you want?”

“I’m assuming you heard about what happened to another passenger in this car by now,” I said. “I’m asking around to see if anyone saw anything.”

The bald one with the thick neck, Ash, was in the back of the cabin pacing back and forth. “We’ve got nothing to say to you, Faunus,” he yelled.

“Calm it!” Bruno yelled over his shoulder before turning to me. “Yeah, we heard about the old man. Hard to miss the crowd.” 

He leaned his arm against the doorframe, barring me from entering and clenched his fist. For a moment, I spotted a small data drive in his hand before he hid it in his palm.

“But we didn’t hear anything,” he continued. “We were busy. Anything else?”

“Actually,” I said, tapping my chin. “What side-arms are issued to Mistral Militia?”

“We didn’t do this!” Ash snapped from behind his partner.

“We have better things to do than shoot random passengers,” Bruno said, glaring at me. “Or getting accused of it.”

“I know you’ve talked to him,” I crossed my arms. “Did the Mistral Militia want something to do with his Aura-tech research? Is that what you three were arguing about yesterday?”

“Now she’s spying on us too?” Ash said. “Do your job and go back to Grimm lookout!”

Sharing his partner’s anger, Bruno tried to close the door, but I caught it.

“A passenger is dead,” I said, locking eyes with the man. “Our differences aside, I don’t think either of us can stand for that.” I purposely lowered my ears and softened my stare. “I can’t figure this out alone, and I think you can help me find whoever did this. Please…” I wanted to see his reaction. What would he think of me relinquishing autonomy and power over the situation?

Bruno looked at me. For a moment, the "Faunus needs a big strong human's help" card made him drop the angry bravado, and what I saw in his eyes was fear. Whatever was happening with these two, they'd lost control of the situation. He glanced back at his partner, sighed, and turned back to me, his walls back up and genuine fury in his expression.

“Whoever did this,” Bruno said. “Whatever you would do to him if you found ‘em, is nothing compared to what  _ I’m _ going to put him through.”

With that, he slammed the door in my face.

I sighed and turned back to the hall. “Well, they’re connected somehow… great,” I muttered. Just what I needed. Whatever those two were hiding, I was the last person on board they would share it with. Luckily, the person who might be able to help me came running up stares down the hall just at that moment.

Quartz jogged up to the top floor of the sleeper car, heading toward me. He eyed the professor’s sealed door and gave it a wide berth, glancing back at it before asking, “Any luck?”

“Not really,” I said. “How are the passengers holding up?”

“Everyone’s worried,” Quartz said, rubbing the fingertips of his right hand against his palm while glancing back at the room again. “Word that a guy was killed is spreading rumors fast. The last thing we need during another Grimm attack is everyone being cagey.”

I nodded and folded my arms. “Did  _ you _ see anything?”

“I was finishing up lunch prep in the kitchen, I think, I didn’t even hear the shooting. You guys just started yelling over the radio, and I showed up with everyone else.” Quartz clenched his hands and put them in his pockets. “Sorry.”

I glanced back at the Militia guys’ room. “Could you do me a favor?”

“Sure! Anything to help.”

“If you get the chance, could you try to get information out of those two about the professor next time you see them?”

He peeked over my shoulder down the hall. “They giving you trouble?”

“Yeah. The ears… Anything you could find out would help. I’m sure they know something.”

“You can count on me, boss.” Quartz saluted.

“Has Jade calmed down yet?” I asked. “I want to ask her a couple more questions.”

“Yeah, she’s sitting in the lounge. Boyd wanted to give her some space,” Quartz said. “I feel bad for her, though. She’s had a rough week, and then she finds  _ that _ .”

One of my ears perked up. “What do you mean?”

“I heard from some other attendants that she’s in trouble for breaking into a Kingdom embassy in one of the coastal settlements. I think she’s heading to Mistral for court, actually.”

I pulled out my Scroll and connected to the network, pulling up any articles and reports I could find until one finally mentioned Jade. After reading through it, I started walking down the hall.

“Counting on you!” I waved back at a confused Quartz as I headed down to the lounge.

I found Jade exactly where Quartz said she’d be, alone in a chair next to the lounge’s piano. She had her hands under her chin, lost in thought, and almost jumped clean out of her jacket when I suddenly walked up to her.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah…” Jade sat back in her seat. She tucked her legs against the bottom of the chair and folded her arms. “I just needed to calm down for a minute.”

“Well, you seem fine enough. I’m sure someone with your passion for justice would want to help me clear some things up.”

Jade glared at me but didn't complain when I sat across from her and started tapping on my chair's armrest.

I pulled up some files on my Scroll and stared at them. “I was able to access some arrest records--pretty lucky considering how bad the signal is getting--and I found something interesting.”

Jade frowned, knowing where this was going.

“Multiple arrests,” I started, “breaking and entering into various government facilities, each time with an illegal Dust device that easily fries door locks.”

“It’s not a secret,” Jade said. “I’m not going to bow down to the Kingdoms.”

I shrugged. “I guess that sounds better than saying you’re bad at getting away with it.”

“Your point?”

I set down my Scroll and leaned forward. “The lock outside of Sky’s room showed the same type of tampering that is caused by a device you’re known for having.”

“What a coincidence.”

“And it’s also a coincidence that _ no one _ , in the entire car, saw or heard anyone sprinting out of that room before you screamed.

Jade clenched her jaw shut and squirmed as her head sunk close to her shoulders.

“With all that in mind,” I continued, “it’s not hard to imagine someone breaking into his room, shooting him, tossing the weapon out the window, and then pretending they just stumbled on the body.”

“It wasn’t _ me! _ ” Jade sat up in protest.

“Then who else could have done it? According to your story, no one else really could have.”

“You can’t do anything, you’re a Hunter not a--”

My ears pointed forward as my eyes darkened. “Until we get to the next settlement, I can do whatever the hell I want. So, what really happened?”

Jade grit her teeth, but ended up sighing and put her head in her hands. “Yeah, I broke in, okay. I noticed that he was always early to meals, so when I thought he would be in the dining car, I tried to sneak in. Just when I broke the lock, there was a bang inside, and I heard a body fall. I froze. I wasn’t sure if it was a gunshot or not. After that, I heard the window latch and someone moving around, so I pulled the door open. By the time I did, the killer was gone.”

I crossed my arms. “And you lied about it.”

“I broke into a guy’s room a second before he was killed. Of course, I lied!” Jade said, looking around to double-check no one was listening. “I swear, I would never kill anyone.”

“So the killer just jumped off the train? That would definitely make my job easier,” I said. “Why did you break into the professor’s room then? Step down from a government office, if you ask me.”

“He’s not a real professor,” Jade said. “He… He builds weapons for the Atlas Military.”

“Excuse me?” I almost laughed. “That guy?”

“I recognized him from footage of an Atlas weapon development conference a couple of years back. We were trying to find out more about a new guy Atlas brought in after they lost their fleet to the White Fang, but the professor guy was there, sitting only a few seats away from him. I tried looking up his real name the other day, but nothing was public. So, I wanted to go through his things and find out who he was and what he was working on.”

I sat back and looked up, trying to piece everything together. “So an Atlas Military weapons scientist disguises himself to travel on a train to Mistral. Then someone kills him, but not you, and then they fling themselves off the side of the train. That’s your story?”

Jade shrugged her shoulders.

I frowned, but mumbled to myself, “Well, I don’t have anything better to go on.”

* * *

I walked back to my room, deep in thought. What is really going on? If the Kingdoms are involved, then I want nothing to do with it. I wanted to stay on Grimm lookout and wait for smarter authorities to deal with this. But I couldn’t. A man was dead, and I couldn’t let that go, not without at least trying everything I could in my power to stop the culprit.

When I opened my door, Weiss was sitting alone in the room, also lost in thought.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m just… I didn’t even know him well, but it feels strange that he’s dead.”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that if you’re up for it,” I said. “What did you know about his work?”

“His research or lectures?” Weiss asked. “His research is absurd. He is… was thirty years too early to be going on about the Aura-tech he wanted to implement.”

“Are you sure you’ve never seen him before you met on the train?”

“Yes. I’ve never even heard of him. We just talked about Atlas,” she said. “He missed it a lot.”

“He made it sound like you did too.”

“I have more… mixed feelings. Why?”

“Jade thinks he was lying about being a professor and was actually working for the Atlas military.”

Weiss sat up and raised an eyebrow. “Him? He was just on vacation.”

“That’s what I said,” I replied. I told her everything I’d found out and what Jade had admitted after some pressure. “I know it sounds crazy,” I continued, “but I have a feeling she’s not lying. I just want some actual evidence before acting on anything. But accessing the network is limited out here, and since you used to be SDC, with their ties to the Atlas Military and all, I thought I would ask.”

“A lot of leadership positions have shifted after Ironwood was ousted. It’s a completely different structure than it was four years ago. Sorry, but everything I know about what’s going on behind the scenes is outdated.”

“Worth a shot,” I said as my ears lowered down the side of my head.

“But,” Weiss said, “I know someone who might be able to find out.”

  
  


Weiss sat at the table in front of her laptop. I was behind her at the back of the room, my arms crossed as I silently waited for the video-call to go through to Weiss’s contact.

The screen showing the other end of the call appeared, revealing an eye way too close to the camera. The eye's owner pulled back, and an infamous face I hadn't seen in a long time appeared, belonging to Ruby Rose.

“Weiss?” Ruby asked. “Oh my god! HEY BLAKE!” she called away from her Scroll’s camera. “Weiss is calling!”

Blake peaked around the edge of the screen, still as deadpan as I remembered her. “Hey.”

“Hi guys,” Weiss said. “Look, I need--”

“You cut your hair again,” Blake said flatly.

“Is that Velvet? Holy cow!” Ruby waved, almost dropping her Scroll.

I awkwardly waved back. Ruby’s messy hair reached her shoulders now, and she’d traded in her combat cloak for a red hoodie. I almost needed a double-take to recognize her.

“How’s school going?” Weiss asked.

“Good, I guess,” Ruby sighed.

Blake pushed Ruby out of the way and grabbed the camera. “This annoying prodigy just got back from shadowing a ship engineer who offered her a job once she’s graduated, so don’t let her fool you.”

“Blake, give my Scroll back!”

“Still job hunting?” Weiss asked Blake.

“Yeah…” Blake looked down.

“YOU’RE MY HOUSEWIFE!” Ruby shouted in the background.

Blake’s ears twitched in irritation. “Anyway… What’s up?” she asked. “We haven’t heard from you in weeks.”

“I need a little help with something,” Weiss said as Ruby poked her head back into frame. Weiss pulled up a scanned image of the professor’s photo ID on the screen and sent it to the pair. “I need you guys to find out who this guy _ really _ is.”

Blake and Ruby pulled up the image on the other end and looked over it.

“The name is fake, or we think it is anyway, and we need to find out who it is ASAP,” Weiss said. “We’re guessing an Atlas military scientist.”

Blake raised an eyebrow. “This for work?”

“Long story. Can you do it?”

Blake looked over the picture. “He doesn’t look familiar, but I’ll see what I can do.”

I stepped forward. “Not to sound ungrateful, but how long do you think it will take?”

“A couple of hours,” Blake said. “Not like I have anything better to do anyway. What’s the hurry?”

“It’s time-sensitive,” Weiss responded, “and we’re going to lose signal tonight, so the sooner the better.”

“Lose signal?” Ruby asked as she looked at the cabin around me and Weiss. “Wait--are you guys on a train?”

Blake handed the Scroll back to Ruby. “Rush order it is.” She walked to a couch behind Ruby, pulled up her own laptop, and started typing in the background.

“You’re not in trouble, are you, Weiss?” Ruby asked.

“No, I’m good. Just helping Velvet out with something over here.”

Ruby frowned, still concerned. “Call us more often, girl. We worry about you.”

“I’m still around,” Weiss smiled. “Send a message when you two find something, would you?”

Ruby smiled. “Right.”

Weiss ended the call and hung her head for a moment, but by the time she turned back to me, she was in business mode again. “So if Jade is right, and he did make weapons, do you think that’s what the Militia guys wanted him for?”

“That’s what I suspected before Jade mentioned this,” I said. “It just strengthens that theory. If they come back with a name, I’ll hit those two up with some more pointed questions.”

Weiss nodded as a quiet hung in the room.

“Thank you,” I finally said. “For calling them.”

“No problem. I like being the assistant to the detective herself.”

“God, I am  _ not _ a detective.”

“Sure are acting like one. You even have me, the plucky sidekick, tagging along.”

“Is that what you are?”

Weiss leaned back in the chair. “I know you have reservations because it’s your job, and you feel like you need to prove yourself, and… me abandoning the Hunters and everything. I get it, but maybe we can team up? Just like the old days.”

“Did we team up much in the past?”

“Photoshoot, murder mystery, what’s the difference?” Weiss joked.

I laughed her off. “Well, call me if they find him. I’m taking over Grimm watch for the afternoon, and I also need to keep an eye on the interior cameras now.” I waved goodbye and left the room as quickly as I could.

* * *

After a couple hours of looking for any more Grimm swarms, I switched watch with one of the crew and started silent tests on the train alert systems. The turrets reacted perfectly, and nothing looked wrong with the sensors. Everything was fine, but I was antsy, impatient for any word back from Blake and Ruby.

On my second tour through the train, it was late afternoon, and I passed by the professor’s sealed off room. With a button on my Scroll, the door was unlocked, and I entered.

The room was unchanged since earlier that day. We put a sheet over the body and a new pane over the window but tried to leave everything as untouched as possible, for when some real detectives would look the room over.

I walked through the events of the murder once again in my head.  _ So the killer got in here, goes through his stuff, while the professor is at gunpoint. The sound of the lock being hacked startles them, so they shoot the professor and jump out the window to escape before Jade can see who it was. _

I walked up to the window and looked through it. The killer would need to be athletic, but even someone a bit broader than myself would still be able to slip through easily. I was pretty sure that neither of the two Militia guys down the hall was agile enough to climb along the side of the train.

_ It wouldn’t be a problem for a Hunter, with all the armor plating on the outside to hold onto. We did obstacle courses like this all the time back at Beacon-- _

And then I had a thought. The hair on the back of my ears perked up, as the idea crawled its way into my mind.

I pulled out my Scroll, still able to access the network, and tried to find any info on the organization Weiss said she worked for. They were active in several different sites across Anima. I quickly found Weiss, right on the front page of their network site in a group picture of the team.

A quick search and I easily found what settlements had Archive Towers already set up and operating. One less than fifty kilometers away from Merene, Weiss’s stop, and with no landmarks to block the signal, it was easily within range of the neighboring settlement’s tower.

I was far from an expert on Archive Towers, but everything I was reading pointed to the fact that there wouldn’t be any need for one in Merene. They probably wouldn't even want one considering the costly maintenance.

I let my hand holding the Scroll drop to my side as I slowly turned and started at the sheet-covered body.

_ Not on the train for business… _

_ Onboard under false pretenses… _

_ Acquainting herself with a random man from Atlas, for seemingly no reason. _

_ A random man who is then killed... _

_ “I need to grab something from my luggage, but I’ll meet you there.” _

Thoughts ran through my mind over and over again, as I stared at the dried blood that had splattered against the wall and pooled around the corpse.


	5. Chapter 5

I drummed my fingers against my leg and coldly stared at the door as Weiss entered the room. She’d just come back from a quick dinner, finding me sitting at the table inside. An accusatory figure in wait.

“Hey… Did you find anything new?” Weiss asked as she closed the door behind her. 

I nodded at the laptop. “They call back yet?”

“No.” Weiss raised an eyebrow, more curious about my behavior than the question. “What’s wrong?”

I shifted in my chair. “I realized something that made me feel stupid.”

“Well, what was it?”

“Where were you before lunch this morning?”

“I was in the observation car… with you.”

“After that.”

“Well, we found the body.”

“...Before that.”

“Wait…” Weiss laughed nervously. “You don’t think I--”

"I really don't know what to think. Not until I get some answers," I said as I pulled out my Scroll and started going through what I'd researched. "You have an interesting job. When I looked into it, though, I found that in Merene, aka your stop according to your ticket record, there are zero plans for constructing an Archive Tower. It's never even been considered. I've triple-checked with their city planner."

Weiss’s eyes widened the more I talked. “Vel…”

“My problem, hang up, whatever you want to call it, is," I interrupted, "that in the middle of a crisis, I’m being distracted by a question. One that could be a problem depending on the answer.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you here, Weiss?”

Weiss’s face was pale. She couldn't even keep a nervous smile up. “It’s me, Vel. You--”

“Don’t,” I snapped. “You have the skills, and you were getting close to the victim for some reason.”

Weiss clenched her jaw and straightened her back before she began pacing around the room, more focused on her train of thought than my words

“I could go on!” I said, getting Weiss’s attention again. “So explain to me what you're really doing here because the more you dance around this, the more serious I’m going to consider the possibility that you murdered a man.”

“I didn’t…” Weiss rubbed her temple and sat down on the bed. “You’re right. I’m not going to Merene for work. I’m doing… a favor.”

I sat back, my ears perked up at attention. “What kind of favor?”

“Since the Battle of Snowdale, it’s been public knowledge that my sister, Winter, was a spy for the White Fang inside of the Atlas Military.”

“I remember,” I said. Shortly after Weiss and the rest of Team RWBY were arrested by Vale, that info became known to the public.

“During the past year,” Weiss started, “certain small settlement autonomy groups have needed an introduction to the White Fang, and they’ve used me as that introduction.”

“An introduction? You?”

“I’m Winter’s sister. She’s working directly with Taurus, and I did go to prison for defending a settlement that housed their members. So… through me, someone who wants to get in contact with the higher-ups… can.”

I leaned back and crossed my arms. “You’re White Fang?”

“I’m just a contact, not a member,” Weiss explained. “That’s why I’m going to Merene. There’s a group that wants to negotiate a deal with the White Fang. Representatives of both groups are meeting in a few days, and I’m just moderating.”

I took it all in as I scratched my scalp and sighed heavily. Weiss had publically distanced herself from her sister and the terrorist group after her release, but Faunus and Kingdom loyalists hadn't forgotten the past, and there were plenty of rumors she still worked with them. I just never wanted to believe the connection still existed.

“Is everyone from Team RWBY--?” I started asking.

“No,” Weiss said. “I’m the only one they’re still in contact with. Blake cut herself off completely to be with Ruby, and Ruby is busy with her studies. I don’t think they need anything with Yang’s martial arts career.”

“They attacked the school!” I said, glaring at Weiss. “They threw Remnant into chaos, and you’re helping them?”

The anarchy in Mistral that led to the rise of the Militia, Vale’s increased invasive security, hack Grimm hunters getting their clients killed. No matter what people like Jade wanted to say about the last few years, it wasn’t as pretty as sticking it to the Kingdoms. Just because there hadn’t been a war, there was still bloodshed, and only God knew how long until it escalated even further. All because of the White Fang.

But instead of justifying herself, Weiss was silent. Stone-faced and her fists clenched, but not saying anything.

What got to me wasn't the betrayal, it was that I couldn't tell she was lying to me. I couldn't tell at all. I could see it all over her face before. I could see past her bravado and bullshit, and because of that, I could be there for her to confide in. Because of that, she could trust me.

But I couldn't see through it anymore. I couldn't even _see_ the mask. The face she was making now... it belonged to a stranger.

“You’ve changed,” I finally realized.

Weiss laughed. “ _I've_ changed? Look in a mirror, Velvet.”

I glared at her as I snapped back into the conversation. “What is _that_ supposed to mean?”

“The Velvet I knew wouldn’t have practically begged me to give her a night to distract her from her own fucking life.” Weiss crossed her legs and looked to the corner of the room. “That’s what this was, both of us seizing an opportunity to play pretend.”

“Speak for yourself, Weiss,” I scoffed. “You’re the one who’s left everyone behind to work for these people. I’m not running from anything.”

“Coco called me a month ago,” Weiss said.

“She… she what?”

“Yeah, we got in touch,” Weiss said. “She said you stayed behind on Anima. She was asking if I’d seen you after you disappeared.”

_Coco is worried about me? Contacting Weiss of all people, and for me?_

“I wasn’t shocked to see you because It’d been four years,” Weiss said, “I was shocked because no one knew where you were!”

“I didn’t disappear,” I said. “I just needed to figure some stuff out… alone.”

“What could be so important--!” Weiss shouted, but stopped when she looked back at me.

I clasped my hands together. I wasn’t sure what kind of face I was making, but it was enough to make Weiss’s angry expression turn to worry.

“I needed to know if it was all worth it,” I said. “Because if it wasn’t… then…” I shook my head and abandoned that thought. “I thought I could break myself out of my rut.”

_But I only pushed myself further in, didn’t I?_ I thought.

A strange silence tainted with shame hung between us. Both of us being more truthful than we ever wanted to be. Weiss was right. I didn't have any right to complain that she wasn’t honest with me. I could barely be honest with myself lately about my own choices.

“Was it worth it for you?” I asked. “Your path. After Beacon, and now?”

“I think so,” Weiss said quietly. “I couldn’t afford to have done anything differently.”

“I wish I felt that way,” I said before sighing. “So, we’re at an impasse then?”

“Looks that way. I didn’t want to admit it.”

“Me neither.” The only way we could be together was by pretending that everything we were didn’t exist, and that illusion was fading now.

Weiss reached out a hand toward me, but pulled it back to her chest after a second thought. “Velvet… I know how--”

I quickly stood up, interrupting her. “I’m going to see if Quartz found out anything,” I announced and walked to the door.

Weiss nodded and dropped her hands to her lap. “Alright.”

The door shut behind me, and I sank down against it until I was sat on the floor, hugging my knees close to me. Too selfish to see how my family would think of my actions, too selfish to see what Weiss was going through after Beacon, too selfish to see what splitting from my team would do to them. Repeating the same cycle over and over again. It would've been funny if it weren't so pathetic. First my parents, then Weiss, then my team, and now Weiss again.

_For a team player, you sure are exceptional at fucking it up one way or another,_ I thought.

“I’m such an idiot…” I mumbled under my breath, alone.

  
  


Eventually, I stood up and composed myself before walking into the next car’s kitchen. Knocking on the door, I entered. Dinner had come and gone, and Quartz was the only one in the back, standing next to the stove with a first-aid box open on the counter next to him.

Quartz was applying some burn gel on his fingers and palm as he turned to me. “Ah! Yo, Velvet. How’s it hanging?”

I looked between the medical supplies and Quartz’s hand. “You alright?”

“Yeah… I got a small burn from the stove while helping the cooks with dinner. Rooky mistake.”

I looked at the burn before Quartz covered it up. I once had something similar. “You… doing alright?” I asked.

“Other than being a nervous wreck all day, I’ve been fine,” he shrugged. “The Grimm attack, some asshole with a gun, and now this,” he motioned to his right hand. “Don’t tell the conductor. It’s not that serious.”

“Sure…” I raised an eyebrow and folded my arms. “Have you found out anything about our friends, Bruno and Ash?”

Quartz snapped his fingers on his left hand and pointed at me. “Yes, I did. I asked around, and apparently, a couple other attendants saw the three of them having hushed conversations ever since they got onboard. Also, our two soldier boys and the professor were together this morning, heading toward the cargo car. They might have been trapped in there together during the Grimm attack.”

“So, they were lying about not knowing him,” I said. “Figured.”

“Do you think they did it?”

“No. They know why he was killed, but I don’t think they did it personally,” I said, looking back at Quartz.

“Well, who then?”

“I’ll let you know as soon as I can prove it.”

Quartz raised an eyebrow under his disheveled hair, but our conversation was interrupted by footsteps and a quick knock on the door behind me.

We both turned, and Weiss was standing in the doorway. “Ruby and Blake are calling. They found something.”

“Be right there,” I said. I turned back to Quartz, who had gone back to tidying up the first-aid kit. “Thank you, Quartz. It’s a hunch, but I think you helped more than you think.”

“I did?”

I waved as I dashed out of the kitchen and followed Weiss. Neither of us said a word as we returned to my room in the other car.

Weiss set up her laptop and pulled up the video call program. Her expression was all business, ignoring our confrontation minutes earlier.

I glanced away as I stood behind her, disappointed in myself that I didn't handle the earlier confrontation better, but glad she was being more mature than I was.

Blake and Ruby appeared on the screen. “Okay!” Blake started. “This took a little longer than we hoped. We had to do some digging. This guy and his work were buried a few years back. His real name is Dr. Erik Rotenberg. You were right. He’s an engineer working on weaponizing Aura-tech for the Atlas military.”

“Anything on why he was here in Anima?” Weiss asked.

Ruby piped in. “That’s the most important part. Last year he was stationed in the Atlas research base in northern Anima to work on a classified project.”

“Where did you find all this?” I asked. “Wait… the one that was overrun by Grimm the other day?”

“Exactly!” Ruby said. “Officially, he’s dead.”

_Well, about that,_ I thought but stayed quiet.

“So Rotenberg dies in a Grimm swarm,” I said, “and then shows up on an express line to Mistral a few days later?”

“We also got some news on what he was working on before he was transferred there,” Blake said. “Something called a--”

The screen froze. Weiss tried to reconnect to the call, but nothing helped.

“Don't bother,” I said, looking at my Scroll. I pointed the screen at Weiss, showing that it had also lost connection to the network. “We’ve hit the dead zone.”

Weiss sat back. “So, we’re on our own now.”

I started pacing around the room, my hand on my chin. “So he escaped the Grimm attack, and then started running to Mistral. This whole thing is sounding more and more suspicious.”

“If he was defecting to Mistral,” Weiss joined in, “it’s obvious that the two Militia guys were escorting him.” 

“I think it’s about time I had another conversation with them,” I said.

Weiss nodded and stood up. “I’m going with you.”

“Did...you forget about me suspecting you of murder?” I asked about her determination to join me.

“Do you still think I’m a killer?” Weiss asked haughtily. 

“Nope.”

“Then we can talk about it later. This is more important than any drama between ourselves.” Her expression and voice was all business, all the tension and turmoil of earlier forgotten.

“Why are you helping me, Weiss?”

“Because… we both want to help people. That’s why we’ve done anything, isn’t it?” Weiss asked with her eyes locked on mine. “Can you deal with that?”

I stared at her. There was the cold confidence I remembered. “Yeah, I can deal with that. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me for helping keep you alive. If the Atlas military is involved, then you’re going to need more help than you think.”

Weiss walked to where she’s put her luggage and started removing a long case from inside her suitcase.

I had reservations about receiving assistance. But if what was going on was what I think was going on, I would need help. Especially if my theory on who--

But then I saw what Weiss was pulling out of her bag.

“What’s that?”

“There’s a killer on this train, and I’m not fighting them empty-handed.” She revealed her weapon case stored hidden in her luggage.

“Is that Myrtenaster?”

“Of course.” Weiss put the tube case over her shoulder.

“No Hunter-class weapons allowed on board!” I said, flabbergasted. “Does no one on this train care about security or my authority?” I said, half-joking, half meaning every word.”

“You’ll want me to have it if we have to fight those two numbskulls,” Weiss said as she left the room.

“If everything goes well,” I said following after her, “we won’t be fighting them. I’ll be recruiting them, but I appreciate the support.”

Together we walked down the hall, and I reached out to knock on the Militia’s door. As I did, I saw that it was slightly cracked open. Not enough to notice just walking by, but by knocking, it was obvious.

Weiss and I looked at each other before I slowly pressed my hand against the door, pushing it open…

A wet metallic smell wafted into the hall, announcing the scene revealed to us.

Bruno and Ash were lying on the ground of their room. A pool of dried blood soaked into the carpet beneath them.

_Well…_ I thought. _Damn it._

Weiss turned to run off and find someone, but I grabbed her by the arm.

“Don’t!” I whispered. I double-checked that we were alone in the hall and pushed her into the room with me and closed the door behind us.

“Why?” Weiss whispered back, glancing at the door and then at the bodies in front of us.

“We can’t let the killer know we’ve found them yet. As far as anyone is concerned, no one knows about this.”

I knelt down and looked at the two bodies while Weiss grimaced and stood in the back corner of the room to let me investigate.

Buzz Cut--Bruno, had been stabbed multiple times. Once in the throat to silence him and then several times in the chest to finish the job. His blood was what had been splattered across the ground. The knife that had done the job lay a few feet from the bodies, tossed to the side. The same knife that his partner had almost threatened me with the other day. The difference was that its owner, Ash, was laying under the victim, his neck twisted more than halfway around from blunt trauma.

“It looked like he got hit by some machinery,” I said.

“I once saw a wound like that done by someone with a combat-grade arm prosthetic,” Weiss said, more composed now.

“Does anyone onboard have a robot arm?” I asked.

“Not that I’ve noticed. And that’s not something you just miss. Maybe it’s something else.”

Remembering what had caught my attention when I confronted Bruno earlier, I looked around the bodies, feeling their pockets and checking under the bed just in case it had fallen on the ground.

“Judging from the blood, they were probably killed over an hour ago.” Weiss said, “What are you looking for?”

“Bruno was holding a data drive earlier,” I said, finding nothing. Weiss also glanced around the room and opened a drawer to check inside, taking care not to leave fingerprints.

It was always possible that something else could have happened to it, too many possibilities and variables to be sure. But my gut told me that whatever was on that drive was why they were killed. Just the sort of thing a killer would search through someone’s luggage for.

I stood up and thought out loud, “So the professor, or doctor rather, defected, _coincidentally_ at the same time a military base was overrun.”

“You think an Atlas agent caught on to him and did...this?” Weiss asked.

“If he didn’t hide well enough, and Atlas caught on that he was still alive, then maybe. Still doesn’t explain the Grimm attack.”

“Maybe he sabotaged the defenses so that the base would be overrun?” Weiss asked.

“That wouldn’t explain how he knew a swarm of Grimm would attack the--”

I stopped talking. Everything I knew about the first victim, the few conversations we had, all the pieces fell together in my head, and I faced toward the front of the train.

“That’s why!” I realized the mystery that had been gnawing at my mind since this morning.

I turned sharply and ran out of the room.

Chasing after me, Weiss called out, “You figured something out?”

“I figured out what _matters!_ ”

Together, we ran up through the entire train, racing through the dining car, the passengers in coach staring as we moved forward, all the way up to the crew car, and into the lookout chamber where all the camera screens were stationed. I checked the lock as I opened the door. No sign of being fried by Jade’s device. Just as I thought, the murderer wouldn't need something like that.

Weiss caught her breath in the doorway as I pulled up the recorded camera feed. Just like before, the interior cameras had been shut off, and the footage from the last half an hour before when Weiss speculated the new murders took place had been deleted.

“Care to explain why we ran all the way up here?” Weiss asked.

“Following up on something Quartz told me,” I said as I rewound all the footage hours back.

“This is way before even Rotenberg’s murder.”

“Before even the Grimm attack,” I added.

“What does the Grimm attack have to do with any of this?”

“Grimm attacks that are following the victim.” Before I could answer more fully, I found the right time and pulled up the cameras from the baggage car. Just like Quartz said, the two militia soldiers were practically pushing the doctor into the car with them.

“What are they doing there?” Weiss asked.

“Not there,” I said, changing the camera angle, showing them enter the Dust storage car, a new carriage that didn’t have cameras like the rest of the passenger train. “Gotcha!”

  
  


The hatch to the dust car opened with a scream, revealing the dark metal interior. Weiss and I entered, our footsteps echoed in the empty car that smelled like steel. We rounded a corner from the entrance and faced a row of a dozen lockers, built for transporting Dust, illuminated by faint electrical lights that flickered with our intrusion.

“That one,” I said, pointing to a locker halfway down the car. From the scratch marks around the lock, it looked like someone had tried to pry it open to get at whatever was inside, to no success. “Killer’s after whatever’s in here.”

Weiss looked at the lock. “It’s a combination code,” she said, pushing some buttons.

“Don’t bother,” I said. “These lockers are raider and Grimm proof. Whatever Rotenberg was transporting, this is the safest place on the train. I’m assuming he knew the code but was killed before the murderer could get it out of him.”

“Which is why he was at gunpoint.” Weiss finished my thought.

“And then Jade interrupted by trying to break into the room. Bam. Reflex. Even hitmen get spooked.”

“So, there’s no way we can get into what’s inside?”

“Not quite.” I pulled out the Scroll the conductor gave me when I came on board, giving me full access to everything on the train. With a click of a button, the lock was overridden, and the door slid open.

Inside, a small briefcase-sized object with a shoulder strap sat in the center. It was a dormant mechanical device, with complicated advanced circuitry visible between its casing. It was bizarre to look at, a type of tech I’d never seen before, but most noticeably, at the center of the case, locked under a safety bar was a large activation switch. It reminded me of a T-handle used for blasting dynamite.

“I really don’t think that’s Dust,” I said. “Or tech based on Dust.”

Weiss stepped forward and crouched in front of the advanced machine, staring at its build and construction. “Oh God,” she gasped quietly. “That’s impossible. How…?”

“Only one way to find out,” I said, and removed my pistol from its holster and aimed it at the culprit.

Weiss froze. In the dimly lit car, the silent air was frozen between us. Glancing over her shoulder, Weiss realized that I wasn’t pointing my weapon at her, but at the shadows by the entrance of the car.

“Maybe he can tell us all about it!” I shouted into the darkness, tightening my grip, my ears leaned back, ready for combat. “Isn’t that right… Quartz.”

The electrical lights hummed like they were holding their breath. Finally, out of the shadows, a footstep interrupted the tension.

Weiss stood up and positioned herself between the locker and the shadows in front of me, as the figure emerged.

Holding an Atlesian pistol, its barrel trained at my chest, the train attendant stepped out of the darkness, his vest and uniform gone, replaced by Hunter-grade bracer armor and a grey and black jacket.

On Quartz’s face, a cruel smirk, enjoying every moment of our standoff.


	6. Chapter 6

Cold, stagnant air hung between where Weiss and I had found the strange device, and where the man, Quartz, stood at the opposite end of the dark train car. My gun was trained on him, just as his gun, the murder weapon, was now pointed at me. Both of us waiting for the other to make the first move, even if it was taking a breath.

“Sorry, I can’t take this seriously.” Quartz chuckled to himself and put the gun down. “I’m glad you got my hint!”

“It would have been quicker if you had just told me what was going on outright,” I said, keeping my pistol aimed at his heart.

Quartz shrugged. “Little fun on the job never hurt anybody.”

“Three people!” I said. “And I’d argue pretty badly.”

“Yeah, but they were assholes.”

“Excuse me,” Weiss said, raising a hand to interrupt us like she was in class. “The waiter? What did I miss?”

“I’ve had better jobs,” Quartz sighed. “This time I had to deal with complaining passengers, being nice, etc. etc. Bleh! Hate it.” He shook his head and twirled the gun in his hand to exaggerate. “Am I right, Velvet? You have a lot of power. Don’t you ever just wanna let loose and make everyone respect your authority and fear you like they should?”

“Don’t try to cozy up to me, bastard,” I said.

"Well, you suffocate yourself playing nice, and I have to stay in the shadows. Both of us can't be who we really want," he said before turning to Weiss. "By the way, I'm an assassin who's been lying to you all the entire time. Just in case that wasn't clear. That part about me being a fan of Xiao Long was true, though. Super excited for her next tournament."

“Can we focus right now?” I said, glaring at Quartz.

“I’m curious,” Quartz said, relaxing and rolling his shoulders back. “How’d I slip up this time?”

“In your hurry after you killed Rotenberg,” I explained, “you grabbed the bullet casing before jumping out the window. Those get pretty hot. I learned that the hard way several times in training, and you had the same burns I once had when I saw you in the kitchen.”

Quartz laughed. “God, this whole job is embarrassing.” He tapped the pistol against his leg. “Haven’t caused a mess like this in a while, oh well!”

I nodded to the side at the device, still sitting in the locker. “What is this?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Quartz folded his arms.

“An artificial Aura-emitter,” Weiss explained. “Basically, someone’s accomplished Aura-tech, decades ahead of its time.”

“Fine, just blurt it out, why not…” Quartz said. “Not technically, princess. My boss is working on artificial Aura. He wasn’t really getting it down, but along the way, his team accidentally made this thing.” He gestured over to the locker with his gun.

“And this is what caused the swarm this morning?” I asked for him to confirm.

“Correcto! Just as you detected detective,” he said, refusing to take any of this seriously. “What they ended up making was a false signal. Humans can’t detect it, but it’s powerful enough for Grimm to go nuts for it. Pretty much sends a message out that there are tens of thousands of humans for them to kill at the location of the emitter. The professor is actually a doctor named--” He paused, realizing I’d already said the doctor’s name. “You two already figured that out somehow, right?”

““Yeah,”” we both said.

"Yeah... anyway, his job was to refine the device into a weapon, and along the way, they managed to boost its signal so that the planet's Aura itself would create new Grimm to stop the false signal."

“That’s why all the Grimm during the attack were weak and slimy?” I asked. “They were newborns?”

“I guess? I never saw any experiments myself. I’m just here to get rid of loose ends.”

I took a moment to realize what we were dealing with here. This wasn’t just any experimental tech, this was devastating. You could smuggle a device this small into any settlement, activate it, and have it overrun within hours.

“Drop it out a plane, put it in a missile, it’s absurdly expensive, but yeah,” Quartz continued. "There's potential in using Grimm to defeat your enemy with tech no one knows exists."

“Atlas would go that far?” I asked. Weiss had warned me, I’d heard of what they’d done in settlements, but using Grimm as a weapon, it felt too extreme, even for them.

“I don’t approve personally,” Quartz said, “but it would be a good way to combat the White Fang without escalating things into a war.”

“Don’t trivialize it, Quartz!” I yelled, gritting my teeth.

“That’s not my real name, you know,” Quartz said, flipping his metallic-grey hair back. “Didn’t lie about being named after my hair, though.”

“What’s your role in this?” I needed to get as much information out of him as possible, and he was stupid enough to not shut up for some reason.

“Just as I said,” Quartz said with a sigh. “Cleaning up Rotenberg’s mess. For god knows what reason, the doc got all upset that he couldn’t work on his own pet projects, despite being far from the best Aura-tech developer we have, and goes rogue. He used one of the emitters they were developing to swarm the research base with Grimm, destroyed everything, and took off with the last prototype and the only surviving copy of the data. Then he meets up with his Militia contacts, who planned on using the train to sneak into Mistral, but they weren’t as sneaky as they thought they were.

“So, my bosses find out. I’m in the area, so they send me to hop on board, steal back the data--” he pulled out the missing data drive I last saw Bruno holding, tossed it up and grabbed it out of the air “--and the prototype, and of course, kill the traitor.”

“Doesn’t sound too complicated,” I said. “How’d you mess it up so badly. I’m sure your Atlas bosses wouldn’t send an amateur to take out the guy who stole their superweapon.”

“I was going to get mad at for you calling me an amateur,” Quartz said, “but _superweapon?_ ” Quartz burst into laughter and wiped a fake tear from his eye. “Velvet, this is a fun side project! You have _no_ idea what crazy shit they’re cooking up at the real lab. As for the amateur comment, I had to push up the plan to kill him during the data blackout. My attempts to sow discord between the doc and his Mistral guards worked a little too well, and they demanded he proved the device was real. He did, or they did for him, and Grimm attacked the train. Luckily they shut it off before they got us all killed, but after that, I had to improvise.

“And that’s when Jade almost walked in on you?”

“I wasn’t even going to shoot the guy,” Quartz whined. “I just wanted the code to the locker and to know where he’d hidden the data drive. Then the door unlocked and--” Quartz made a pop motion with his pointer finger, despite holding an actual gun. “I didn’t mean to make a mess and scare the whole train. I don’t operate like that. It was going to be a simple disappearance, but little miss activist had to ruin everything. I grabbed the casing so settlement police couldn't trace it back to Atlas, hopped out the window, etc. etc. etc. You figured all this out minutes ago. Whole big mess. So…” Quartz shrugged and raised his hands. “My bad!”

“And after you killed Bruno and Ash to get the drive, you told me to come to this car to get me to open the locker with my unlimited access.”

“Left the bodies around for an extra push and everything.” He nodded, satisfied by the explanation, and smiled like we were back to being good friends. “Now that I’ve cleared up all the misunderstandings, I’ll just take that emitter off your hands, go on my way and… you still have your gun pointed at me.”

“You’re not getting away with this, monster!” Weiss took out Myrtenaster, the revolver spinning as she got into a defensive stance, her arm pulled back with the tip of her sword pointed at him.

“Guys… come on,” Quartz facepalmed. “I don’t want to do this.”

“Don’t think you can take both of us?” Weiss said.

“No. I can do that. I don’t want to _kill_ you. I’m trying to get you guys to understand and agree to keep quiet about this whole mess.”

“Excuse me, what?” I asked.

“And why do you care about us again?” Weiss asked, also confused.

“You two are… really cute together.”

There was a long moment.

““Huh?””

“You two spend like, a day and a half sneaking glances at each other, and it really made my day. Work is usually super boring, and you guys made it great! Really, I’ve been nothing but honest with you guys for the last five minutes. I’m glad this,” he gestured to the two of us, “could happen, and I don’t want my job getting in the way of it.”

Every word out of his mouth was genuine and heartfelt, like an observer watching a rose blossoming in spring and praising it for its beauty. Which might have creeped me out more than the fact he was a cold-blooded murderer.

I stared at him. “I’m guessing that won’t stop you.”

Quartz frowned sadly and thought about it for a moment. “No… I like my paycheck.”

I fired my gun.

His Aura activated, a dark grey and black light burst around his body that negated the bullet’s impact and sent a gust of air rushing forward through the rest of the car.

In response, Weiss and I activated our Auras. Burning energy erupted around our bodies, my senses expanding as I charged up.

“I’ll rush him, you back me up,” I said quietly.

“I can trap him up close, you cover me with a sword volley.”

“Well one of us has to stay back or--”

Halfway through our hushed conversation, Quartz holstered his gun. “Always hated these things,” he said as he cracked his knuckles and did a couple jumps to loosen up his body.

“This isn’t a sparring match,” Weiss said, slicing her sword through the air. “I don’t fight fair against scum like you.”

Quartz laughed. “Trust me, princess. There’s nothing fair about this.”

Before he could get another word in, both of us rushed at him in a burst of speed. He stood perfectly still as Weiss pierced at him from the side, summoning a glyph to pin him against a wall as I came at him from above with a summoned hammer. Both our attacks hit him simultaneously as we moved like blurs before he could lift a finger against--

And we were both flung back instantly.

I slid down the length of the car on my back as Weiss barely landed on her feet next to me, shaking off the hit.

“What the hell…?” I gasped as I sat up. It was like his Aura lashed back at us on its own.

Before I could get up, Weiss charged in again, a burst of speed from a glyph and a slice low at his legs. From the other end of the car, I could see everything that was happening. The moment before Weiss's slash landed, an identical Myrtenaster, made out of grey and black energy, grew out of the Aura covering his leg where she was aiming. With a counter slash that mirrored hers in speed and timing, the Aura-blade clashed with her, sending both Weiss and the original sword flying back.

Weiss kept her grip on her weapon as she stumbled away. She was wide-eyed for a second too long as Quartz suddenly closed the gap, and with a spinning roundhouse kick, sent her back-first into the metal lockers at the side of the car.

_Aura projection?_ I thought. He was summoning copied blades, just like me, the difference was that it was instantaneous with every attack against him. I created and grabbed a short axe out of the air, and threw it at him from down the car. A moment before impact, an identical Aura-axe grew out of his Aura and stretched out to hit the projectile mid-air, my projected weapon shattering on impact and the copy disappearing with it.

Quartz’s teeth flashed through his grin as he walked forward.

I lifted my pistol as I stood up, firing two shots at his chest. Two thin bullet-shaped lines stretched out of the Aura covering Quartz's chest, stretching out like gum and intercepted the real Dust rounds halfway to his position. Like rubber bands, the stretched copies repelled back into his Aura after deflecting my shots.

_This is bad,_ I thought. I’d never seen a Semblance like this. At first, I thought he also had a conjuring-type, but even I couldn’t re-absorb weapons after I’d forged them out of my Aura.

I rushed forward to grab Quartz as he walked to the open locker without a care in the world, and a hand made out of energy stretched out of his Aura from behind his shoulder to counter me. Expecting something like this, I projected a knife in my free hand and stabbed him in the side. Another 'growth,' an Aura-knife identical to the one I created, appeared and hit my knife, knifepoint to knifepoint, shattering my projection. It was like I was stabbing a mirror.

I fell back, my Aura was strengthening my attacks, but everything I did was being thrown back at me with equal Aura-enhanced strength.

_Just attacking him over and over again won’t accomplish anything,_ I thought as I backed up. _But I need to know more about how this works._

I grabbed a wrench sitting on a nearby shelf and threw it at the side of his skull. Of course, an identical wrench made out of Aura-energy grew out and smacked the original out of the air. He didn’t even glance over at the attack as the wrench clanged onto the metal floor as he casually bent down and picked up the device by the shoulder strap.

“All this for a Grimm dog-whistle.” Quartz shook his head in contempt before finally acknowledging my existence again. “You like my Semblance?”

I charged in again with an Aura-sword and slashed down, immediately blocked by an identical sword slashing down back at me. Both our Aura-blades were locked against each other, edge to edge. I broke off and reared back to hit him again, the same sword-growth rearing back with me and struck as I did, keeping up with my movements and striking at me at the exact same time that I tried to attack. I got the sensation again that I might as well have been fighting my own reflection.

_It’s not just responding to my attacks,_ I thought. _It’s an exact copy!_

I took a step back. The mimic growing out of his Aura was sticking around just in case I tried anything. I lowered my sword defensively, and the copy followed suit.

“When my boss in Atlas hired me to clean up his loose ends, he gave me this,” Quartz stretched an arm out like he was presenting himself as the sword growth slid back into his Aura. “Ripped it off some poor Faunus kid, or so I hear. But it’s in better hands now.”

With a flash of light and a loud crack, a blast of lightning was shot from the other side of the car. Weiss had summoned a bolt of electricity from the Dust in her sword, directing the beam at Quartz and the emitter.

The summoned elemental attack scorched the wall and floor beside Quartz as slid under the attack toward Weiss. Covered by the blast, Quartz kicked up, his boot smacking against the Aura covering Weiss’s skull and sent her sprawling before he sprung up and ran out of the car, still holding the emitter in his right hand.

I ran to Weiss and helped her up. “You all right?”

"Yeah," Weiss groaned as she rubbed the back of her head and gripped her rapier. "Let's go get him!"

Together we ran out of the Dust transport car after the assassin. Because of the change in air pressure, we looked up at the second floor and saw that he'd gone up through one of the hatches to the top of the train, too late to trap him inside with a lockdown. We climbed up and immediately found him, walking down the top of the train, still holding the emitter like he was taking a space heater for a nice stroll in the park.

Off the side of the train, the tracks were raised above a dark forest. My Faunus vision wouldn't give me an advantage tonight with the bright silver moonlight reflecting off the metal roof we were standing on. Quartz was heading to the back of the train where he could jump off onto the rails without risk of falling off into the woods below or get sucked under the rails.

Weiss summoned a glyph down under his feet to trap him in place, but an identical glyph grew out of his Aura and slammed down under him, shattering her glyph before it could take effect. His glyph reabsorbed into his Aura as he turned around to us with an annoyed frown.

“You saw what happened inside, right?” Weiss asked as she readied her next Dust cartridge.

“Yeah,” I responded, “he dodged a Dust attack.”

With a flick of her blade, Weiss summoned a wave of ice spikes that erupted from the surface of the train. Quartz jumped to the side to dodge and charged at us.

I ran forward to intercept. I blocked his first kick, before trying to counter with another axe that he copied and blocked. Using that moment, Quartz got two jabs in on my face. I tried to grab his third punch, but a copy of my hand blocked me again. Quartz leaned back and kicked me in the chest, creating some distance as I stumbled backward from the damage to my Aura. Even for an Aura-user, his kicks had absurd power behind them.

_He doesn’t even think about defense,_ I thought as I caught my breath. The Semblance blocked every attack that’s not elemental powers from Dust. _Why is that?_

I jumped back for even more distance and shut off my Aura to test out a thought. The glow around my body faded as I fired my gun again.

Quartz was too late to notice what I was doing. My first shot chipped away the Aura covering his shoulder, and he dodged the second shot that only grazed his cheek, neither getting a reaction from his Semblance.

_Aura… That’s how he’s doing it,_ I thought. Everything an Aura-user comes in contact with while activated is soaked in their Aura. Weiss’s sword, the wrench I threw earlier, my gun, and by extension the bullets. If it could only block mine and Weiss’s Aura-constructs or anything our Aura was touching, then the secret behind his Semblance was obvious.

“His defense only works against Aura!” I yelled over to Weiss.

Quartz groaned like someone had spoiled a movie he was looking forward to. He carefully set the emitter on the roof behind him before crouching low and rushing toward me like a panther tackling its prey. I quickly re-activated my Aura at the last second to dodge another one of his powerful kicks, but not before he knocked my pistol out of my hands, sending it sliding off the roof of the train and lost to the forest we were speeding above.

Not caring if I counter-attacked now, Quartz turned and took out his own pistol and shot at Weiss before she could attack with Dust again, forcing her to shield herself with a glyph to block the bullets.

Using a moment where he had to reload a new clip into his pistol, Weiss shot out a fireblast through her shield-glyph. Quartz jumped away from the blast that shot out into the night sky, putting some distance between the two of us as he slid back to where he’d set down the emitter.

“I’m guessing his Semblance reacts to Aura-based attacks!” I shouted over the wind. “That’s why he can block things our Aura came in contact with, but not Dust!” Dust was a natural counter to Aura, the best weapon against it, which is why Hunters used it against Grimm. If his Semblance couldn’t sense it, I guessed it could only defend against its opposite, and the stunt I pulled by turning my Aura off for a moment proved it.

Quartz laughed at my explanation. “And what are you going to do about it? Fight me without powers?” He holstered his gun inside his jacket and made his Aura flare, black and silver power dripping off him as he taunted us. “I’d like to see you try!”

As he shouted on and on about how outmatched we were, the shape of a Scroll tablet appeared from the Aura covering his arm.

Quartz noticed it, and then looked at me, finally seeing that I had discreetly pulled my Scroll off my belt. He slowly looked behind him as one of the train's turrets raised out of the roof, the cannon priming as it turned and aimed directly at Quartz's position.

“Oh...shit.”

The first shell launched out and grazed the top of the train, just above the emitter and inches away from tearing a chunk out of Quartz's Aura. The Dust shell exploded above the forest off to the side of the tracks. Quartz flung himself against the roof of the train, trying to scamper away as the next shot flew right over his head.

I had to manually lock onto him with every shot using the control on my Scroll. The cannons were designed to automatically hone in on Grimm first and bandits second, but I couldn’t risk the cannons attacking Weiss. Taking advantage of his desperation, Weiss summoned another ice blast that he barely rolled out of the way off toward the guns.

Before we could pin him down, Quartz sprung up with a blast of air out of his boots, dodging the shots as he flew down at the turret with an axe kick and destroyed the cannon. A burst of fire rose up as the metal crunched under him, the weapon permanently offline. I switched to another cannon down the train to continue, but without even looking, he dodged my next shot as he started running back to attack Weiss and me.

I fired the turret again, but I missed. The shot exploded against the armor of the train, Quartz leaping through the cloud of smoke toward us. He was close enough for me to notice that every time I clicked my screen for the cannon to fire another shot at him, an Aura-copy of my Scroll grew out of his arm, mimicking my attempts to kill him.

_If even that’s appearing,_ I thought, then it can only be one type of Semblance.

“He’s got a psychic-type!” I called over to Weiss, who was readying for her next attack.

“How is this psychic-type?” Weiss shouted as she emptied her lighting-Dust cartridge into the air, barely missing him. “He’s definitely not using illusions!”

“It’s automatically responding to any intent to harm the host. Replicating the Aura used to attack him. I’m pretty sure he can’t control it because it responds when he’s not paying attention!”

“Yeah, I guessed it was a passive ability.”

“But the only way it could do what it does is if it reads Aura-user’s minds for hostility.” I put away the Scroll on my belt. I was going to need a new approach.

Quartz charged in and dodged another Dust blast from Weiss before kicking at me. I summoned a blade and blocked the attack, with no reaction from the Semblance.

_See, I only intended to defend myself, not to attack,_ I thought. _I can only fight defensively, but does it work against the growths themselves?_ There was only one way to find out.

Weiss snuck in another Dust blast as he was distracted by attacking me, and froze his legs to the roof, trapping him in place. As he looked down, I slashed at him with a projected rapier. Just as expected, a growth appeared, shaped like my arm holding my sword. We clashed, and before the growth could reabsorb back into his body, I stabbed down at the copied arm, piercing through it!

Just as a new growth appeared, and stabbed my own arm. Perfectly copied.

Quartz’s Semblance pierced through my Aura and stabbed into my forearm.

“Gahh!” I stumbled back. The Aura on my forearm glitched like a broken digital monitor. When an Aura is pierced, but not shattered, the Aura turns against the user, shifting between active and inactive. Shards of Aura, not knowing how to shape itself, stabbed into my skin, gashes appearing in my arm around the stab wound as Quartz’s mimic slipped back into his Aura, barely injured.

Quartz sighed and shook his head at my useless attempt. “You both are unlucky for two reasons.” He looked between Weiss and me. “Not only are both your fighting styles based on Aura constructs, but you can’t get past my ability’s limits.” He stepped out of the ice like it was tinfoil and walked up to me as I gripped my arm.

I needed to focus on stabilizing my arm. If I didn’t, the glitching would spread and shatter the rest of my Aura. But it hurt. It hurt like glass digging into my flesh.

Weiss readied her weapon, but she was running low on Dust, the only thing we had that could hurt him, but we hadn’t even scratched him yet.

Quartz held up three fingers. “My Semblance latches onto the minds of up to three Aura-users within range and perfectly replicates their attacks against me.” He pointed at Weiss. “One…” Then he pointed at me. “Two.”

Before Weiss could interfere, he lunged forward and grabbed me, pulling me into a chokehold and held me between himself and Weiss.

“Two more friends and you might have been able to get a real hit in.”

I squirmed in his grip. I couldn’t even pry him off me with my arm spasming at my side. “Might still by how much you’re playing around,” I grunted through the pain.

Quartz chuckled into my ear. “It’s just a game to me, Velvet. You can’t hurt me. No one can. Not anymore.”’

“Let her go, you bastard!” Weiss growled.

We both looked up. Weiss had her own hostage. The Aura emitter was in her hands, recovered from the midst of all the chaos, and her blade held up, ready to destroy it at any moment.

“Drop her!” Weiss yelled.

“Do it!” I called but clenched my teeth in pain as the glitching cut into my bicep, digging into my muscle.

Quartz only laughed. In his free hand, between two fingers, he held up the data drive he’d killed the Militia soldiers for. “I don’t need the emitter. I have this, remember?”

“I’m not planning to destroy it,” Weiss said with ice-cold eyes. She moved a hand down and removed the safety bar, arming the activation handle.

Quartz frowned. “You’re bluffing.”

“I’d never let you bring that drive or this weapon back to Atlas.”

“Even if that means killing everyone on this train?”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

Quartz was taken aback. My eyes were squinted in pain, I couldn’t see her face to tell how serious she looked, but even I could tell that Quartz was buying the bluff.

“Even if you did,” Quartz said, “Grimm are the same type of entity as any Aura-construct. My Semblance works on them just like it works on you two!”

“You said it yourself,” Weiss yelled, “your Semblance targets up to three users. There are going to be a lot more than three Grimm showing up.”

Quartz tsked and glared at Weiss, furious that his control had been tampered with and subverted, refusing to give an inch at this point as he squeezed the data drive between his fingers.

Just the distraction I needed.

I charged my Aura in my good arm, not aiming for him, so his Semblance hopefully wouldn't kick in. I managed to reach up and pinch the data drive he was holding and surged.

A blast of energy shot through the data drive, exploding the small device between our hands.

I collapsed as Quartz dropped me in surprise. The Aura-blast I sent out weakened the rest of my Aura, and the glitching spread up the rest of my arm and across my shoulder. The numbness of a lack of circulation combined with hot iron poisoned my senses. It took everything I had not to writhe on the roof of the train.

Quartz stared at his hand, realizing that what was left of the drive was completely irrecoverable. He gritted his teeth and glared up to see Weiss rushing up to attack him.

He kicked at her in rage. Weiss instinctively blocked with one arm but was still sent spinning through the air. The emitter flew out of her hand and slid down the train away from us. The emitter that Weiss had just removed the safety on.

Both of them nervously glanced after it, realizing what they’d done.

The emitter slid to a stop against the train’s armor--and let out a loud pitched alarm as a silent wave shot out across the roof and over the rustling branches of the forest.

The whole world froze. Then it began to rumble. Louder than the sound of the train rolling over the tracks, the roar of newly born Grimm bursting from the planet's lifeblood screamed toward the sky.

Weiss and Quartz sprinted for the emitter. Reaching the device first, Weiss tried to shut it off, but Quartz tackled her off, the emitter sliding away. The emitter fell between the train cars, only saved from being crushed under the wheels because the shoulder strap caught on the edge of the armored roof.

Quartz tried to reach for it as Weiss moved to pull him off, only for two Aura-arms mimicking hers to block her.

During their struggle, I tried to restabilize my Aura, which was only getting worse by the second. I tried to focus internally, but that was when I saw Grimm running out of the forest and climbing up the slope to the rails, their growls destroying my resolve.

_Why isn't the automatic lockdown switching on?_ I thought. My panic rose as I realized that when I had tried to shoot Quartz with the cannons, I’d left the train's systems on manual. The automatic defense systems were overridden and would stay that way as long as that Scroll was activated. _Idiot!_

I tried to reach down for my Scroll, but when I felt at my side, the device was gone. I looked up. During the fight, the Scroll had fallen off my belt and slid to the other side of the roof. With my one functional arm, I started dragging myself across the roof as the first group of Grimm climbed up next to Weiss and Quartz.

Weiss shot a lightning blast, searing a Grimm, and shot a pillar of fire at another. She spun her sword's cylinder and tried to summon another elemental attack, but it sputtered out. Her supply of ice Dust was spent. Weiss dodged a swipe from a thin Beowolf covered in slime and started fighting two newborn Ursas.

The emitter was rescued from the edge of the train by Quartz, but before he could switch it off, he was tackled by a Creep. It flew out of his hands and slid back toward me. The emitter was too far away to reach, but I tried anyway, my arm curling up in pain. My Aura was destabilized, and until I had it back under control, I was useless.

Rolling under a Grimm, Weiss scooped up the device, just as a cascade of Grimm reached the top of the train and swarmed her. Weiss was pushed down on her back, the emitter falling to her feet as she desperately swiped her sword above her to keep the Grimm from shredding her apart.

I grit my teeth. Weiss was in danger. If I didn’t do something, she could die. I couldn’t let that happen. Not here. Not after I dragged her into this. I pulled myself up to my knees. Blood dripped from the cracks in my arm’s Aura, splattering across the roof of the train and my jacket as I slowly moved my hand against my chest. I inhaled slowly, ignoring the Grimm bearing down around me as I imagined my arm.

In my mind, my arm was broken and scattered. Smashed and discarded. Steadying my breath, I focused on all those individual pieces, separating them all, understanding every shard, and slowly formed them back together like a puzzle. Piece by piece, shard by shard, until the shape in my mind looked like my arm again. I moved the mental image, clenching its fist, and punched down.

My eyes snapped open, forced back from my few seconds of meditation as my clenched blood-covered fist dented into the roof of the train. White energy appeared around it, causing a glow to spread across the rest of my body as I raised my head. My Aura was whole and crackling with energy, ready to be unleashed.

Summoning two claymore swords, I mentally launched them forward, shredding and mincing two Grimm off Weiss. Their corpses were flung off the edge of the train and into the darkness of the oncoming swarm.

I got to my feet, looking between the emitter, the other Grimm attacking Weiss, and my Scroll. But before I could choose which to deal with first, I was tackled from behind by a Nevermore. I spun around and shielded my face as it started packing at me with its razor-sharp beak. Its hungry maw opened and tried to bite a chunk out of my Aura, only to get a taste of the great axe I forged right under its tongue, lodging it up into its jaws. I reached up and twisted, snapping the monster's neck as it fell limp, trapping me under its huge bodyweight.

I looked back down the train while I was trapped. Quartz was fending off some Grimm, but more and more were climbing up, heading for Weiss and the emitter at her feet. There was only so much she could do with her sword and glyphs while she was pinned on her back, and more Grimm were coming. The tidal wave of monsters I saw this morning reappeared from the edge of the forest, pouring up at the defenseless train.

Weiss saw the oncoming storm of Grimm, their eyes aimed right at her, then at the emitter. She clenched her teeth and glared down the car toward the Atlas assassin.

“Go to hell, Quartz!” Weiss screamed as Grimm clawed and dug into her Aura. Managing to lift her leg, she kicked, and the emitter spun down the surface of the train car between the legs of the Grimm, and right up against Quartz’s boot.

Before he had a chance to glance down, the swarm immediately lost all interest in Weiss and threw themselves at Quartz. He looked up wide-eyed, without any comeback, as a crushing wave of teeth and claws sucked toward him like a magnet. Both he and the emitter were engulfed by the tarlike creatures, the stacking bodies of Grimm shielding us from the sight of his body being torn apart.

Weiss and I caught our breaths as we climbed to our feet. Every Grimm climbing up onto the train ignored us and added themselves to the pile that covered where Quartz.

Over the growls and gnashing of the Grimm, there was a sudden sound of flesh tearing, and then--a blast of wind like a tornado, knocking Weiss and I back down onto the roof as the Grimm surrounding Quartz flew apart.

In the center of the Grimm vortex, Quartz swept his legs up like a breakdancer before jumping back onto his feet. His jacket had gash marks, and the bottom of his pants legs were ripped apart, revealing boots that doubled as air Dust weapons, and prosthetic legs. They were combat-grade to be sure, considering how fast he moved and how hard they hit. Combined, they were enough to tear through an entire swarm of Grimm in one movement.

The shock wave of his Dust attack was enough to temporarily free the top of the train of Grimm. Quartz took a deep breath as he glanced around, his hair matted against his forehead as he frantically reached down at the device at his feet and shut it off.

The Grimm pouring up toward the rails all collapsed, falling over themselves as they tumbled down the slope into piles on the forest floor after the signal was cut. Before any could recover their senses, the train had escaped their grasp.

All three of us gasped for breath as the sound of rushing wind on top of the train was a peaceful silence in comparison to the ordeal we’d barely scraped our way out of.

“You two…” Quartz gasped, “are crazy! Goddamn, man!” He checked himself and his Aura, still all in one piece, and somehow in better shape than either Weiss or myself. He sighed in relief and picked up the device. “Well… see ya.” He waved, too tired to care, and started walking down toward the end of the train.

The wind blowing over us, Weiss and I slowly stood up. “You good?” I asked her.

Weiss nodded. Her Aura was beaten up from the Grimm, but still going strong. “How is your Aura?”

“Mine’s back up,” I said, bending over to pick up my Scroll. I left it on manual now that the danger had passed. I would probably need it before this was over.

_Cybernetic legs, combined with boot weapons,_ I thought. _Even without his Semblance, he’d be hard to beat._ My brain raced through everything I knew about his abilities, looking for an opening.

“I only have a shot or two of fire Dust left,” Weiss said. “After that, I’m empty.”

I nodded. “I think I have a plan,” I said, looking down at my arm. 

My Aura was numbing the pain, but the bleeding hadn’t stopped. Unless I ended this soon, it would take more than a night of Aura healing to clean this up.

I started walking after Quartz, with Weiss trailing behind. “I’m only guessing it will work,” I added. “Step in if it looks like I’ll die, please?”

Weiss nodded, readying Myrtenaster.

Taking a deep breath, I marched after Quartz, now only two cars away from the end where he planned to jump off without damaging the device.

_“Quartz!”_ I called after him.

He turned and rolled his eyes, putting the strap on the device across his shoulder as he said, “Look, I’ll admit it. You two put up more of a fight than I thought, but you have to let it go.”

I yelled in response as I charged him, making an attack that was mimicked instantly, just as usual. My sword was repelled, and so was the Semblance.

_The growth that appears when I attack him always sticks around for a second or two to block again,_ I thought.

I spun the sword in my hand. The mimic growth spun its sword around and blocked my next attack before reabsorbing back into Quartz’s Aura.

Quartz let out an amused laugh as he put his hands in his pockets. “Ha! Must have hit your head back there if you think the same tactic will change anything!” He kicked a leg forward, a blast of Air shooting out at me as his chuckle evolved into something more sadistic.

“Velvet!” Weiss called as I slammed on my back against the roof.

I reached my arm back, signaling her to keep her distance. Climbing to my feet once more, I glared at him and his cocky grin. I was sick of seeing it, so I summoned two thin swords, one in each hand.

Quartz raised his arms. “You can’t bet me, Velvet! No-one _can!_ ”

I sprung forward, landing just out of range of his legs and swung to graze him. Two arms wielding copies of my twin swords erupted out from under his arms and knocked back my blades.

_They mimic my movements exactly,_ I thought, staring up at Quartz, raising his arms, the copied arms bent low with me, reflecting my intent to hurt him.

_You’re right, Quartz._ **_I_ ** _can’t hurt you._

I crouched and crossed my arms, turning the swords back toward myself and stabbed up behind me, the blades of my projections grazing my shoulders.

The mimicked swords, copied me exactly, stabbing backward with me, right into Quartz raised arms.

Quartz grunted in pain, his own Semblance staked into him, pierced through his Aura and his arms. He stared at me, his disbelief soon replaced by seething rage. “You… _YOU!!!_ ”

I pulled my blades forward and stabbed back again, lower, missing myself but forcing the mimic into his broader shoulders.

Spit flew from his mouth as he gasped and staggered back. His Semblance deactivated, the growths fading away like ash as his entire body’s Aura started glitching. Instead of cohesive intimidating energy, it turned into shards of razor-sharp glass digging into him.

“How?” He cried out, cuts appearing around his stab wounds pouring out blood. “I’m… Wa-- He said he gave me invincibility!”

His defenses down, I summoned another sword and moved in for the kill.

Quartz grit his teeth, the pain not enough to make him lose his senses. He kicked off the roof, barely dodging as I swiped my swords an inch away from his chin.

“You think I’d give up just like that?!” He snarled.

As he fell back, his boots glowed. The last of his Dust reserves blasted out, sending me flying back. Luckily, Weiss caught me in her arms before I tumbled off the train.

I looked up. The blast launched Quartz and the emitter down the rest of the train, right to the edge of the final car, just above the domed observation window.

Quartz crawled to the edge and started sliding down the glass feet-first. His Aura was still turned against him as he focused on getting it back to full power before he could jump off the fast-moving vehicle.

“Before he stabilizes!” I got up and turned to Weiss. “You still know your old WhiteRose moves?”

Weiss looked down the train. “Frozen Reflection?”

I nodded and started running down the car toward Quartz.

Behind me, Weiss slashed her sword up, and a row of glyphs appeared down my path. They sped me up until I launched into the air. With a flash, I flew above Quartz, past and off the end of the train.

Quartz jerked his head up as he saw me above him, mouth agape in surprise.

I turned around midair, facing him. A row of three massive glyphs appeared behind me in my flight path, storing my momentum as I hit them, spinning faster and faster until I was held in the sky, caught by Weiss’s Semblance.

Gritting his teeth, Quartz focused as much energy as he could spare to healing his Aura. The glitching slowly showed signs of recovery as he climbed to his feet and locked eyes with me.

I reached a hand back, summoning a large scythe I hadn’t seen in years, a fabricated Crescent Rose, in all its glory.

The energy from my momentum stored in Weiss’s glyphs launched me back toward the train with a flash of light, right to Quartz.

With a thunderclap, I slashed down and exploded through the window. My figure and the scythe passed by him, the shoulder strap sliced in half, and the emitter tumbled away among the shattered glass falling around us like cherry blossoms. My eyes stayed forward as Quartz's jaw dropped in shock as his Aura was completely destroyed, blood bursting from the gash across his body.

The speed of my impact crashed through the window and the floor of the train, sending me falling into the bottom floor lounge as Crescent Rose dispersed. I dropped with the rubble and glass into the thankfully empty car, sliding and stopping against the piano with the device skidding to a halt with me, causing a cord noise as we bumped into the instrument.

I rubbed my head and sat up, looking up at the huge hole in the back of the train. Weiss’s launch had ripped apart the metal walls around the window, exploding the whole back of the car inward.

Quartz, still standing at the edge of the demolished window, slowly turned.

Blood gushed and splattered down the new hole to the bottom floor. Quartz looked down at his fatal wounds before slowly lifting his head and stared at me. As quickly as he'd been moving on top of the train, Quartz pulled the pistol out of his jacket and aimed at my head.

His finger on the trigger, just enough strength left to pull it. It would be easy to shoot through what was left of my Aura as I lay helplessly on the ground. I’d exerted myself too much with that attack to roll out of the way, leaving me helpless as he got ready to take me down with him.

But instead, Quartz smirked, just his usual, oddly friendly grin. He tossed the gun down the hole, the pistol landing next to some rubble a yard or two away from my feet. He raised his chin and slowly lifted an arm to give me a thumbs up.

“Good one…”

His eyes faded as he fell backward off the train and out of sight.

I gasped for air after holding my breath and leaned my head back against the piano. _You too, asshole,_ I thought as my arms lay limply at my side.

“Velvet!” Weiss called out as she jumped down the hole after me. “Are you all right?”

“Yep,” I groaned as she helped me up. “Thanks for the assist.”

“No problem,” Weiss said as she bent down and picked up Quartz’s gun, letting out a long sigh.

I wanted to relax too, but the pain of getting stabbed was catching up to me through the Aura. “My record of never shattering my Aura on the job remains!” I laughed to hide the pain as I started walking down the car, rubbing my arm.

"That's good," Weiss said dispassionately. She walked over and picked up the emitter, standing between me and the exit into the rest of the train, six or so yards to the door.

“You know more about this stuff than I do,” I said as I turned back to Weiss. “What’s the safest way to destroy that--”

I finished turning, and Weiss was pointing Quartz’s pistol at me.

I stared at her, the car permeating with silence.

Weiss’s eyes had a cold determination to them, wordlessly ordering me to walk away and leave her with the device. No longer the eyes of a tourist, a lover, or even the secret contact for settlement-rights groups, but instead the eyes of a woman on a mission.

“Oh… you’re an _asshole,_ Weiss!”

“You’re not stopping me, Velvet.”

“So everything about traveling to be an introduction for the White Fang was also a fucking lie?”

“What was I supposed to say after you accused me of murder?”

“But, you _were_ targeting Rotenberg?”

“I’m on a mission to find out what information a defecting Atlas military scientist was taking to Mistral, and steal it for the White Fang.”

“Goddamn it, Weiss!” I grabbed at my hair.

“You have a problem with that?” Weiss frowned.

“You… could have told me… anytime today.” I said, every word adding fuel to my anger. “Any time after he died. We could have avoided this whole--” I gestured to the back of the train. “You should have trusted me instead of stringing me along so you could backstab me at the last minute!”

“I have more important priorities than keeping your feelings from being hurt,” Weiss said calmly.

I tsked and glared at her and the gun.

“If it clears anything up,” Weiss said, “we didn’t know about the prototype, or what it did. We just wanted to know what Atlas was working on. No one was going to get hurt. I was close enough to intercept the train, also the doctor would suspect me less than one of the White Fang’s Faunus agents. Not that any could have arrived in time. We even bought off the train’s regular Hunter so there wouldn’t be any interference.”

I sighed. “But then I ended up taking the job.”

Weiss looked down. “That was unexpected.”

“Let me guess,” I said, staring at the ruined floor, “you decided to keep tabs on me so I wouldn’t get in your way? Keep me close and happy?”

“Yes… at first.” Weiss’s determination wavered for a moment, but she stayed focused on the mission. The mission I was a threat to.

I reached out a hand, steeling myself. “Give me the emitter.”

“I’m not doing that,” Weiss said.

“If the White Fang gets their hands on that thing, they will do everything in their power to reverse engineer it. You’ll be starting an arms race between them and Atlas!”

“And how long until Atlas builds another one of these things and uses it for real?”

“You heard Quartz. This is the last prototype, and I destroyed the surviving data on it.”

“How do you know Atlas won’t develop something like this again? Or something _worse?_ If we’re going to fight them, then we need to know what they’re capable of, so we can prepare countermeasures.”

“And start a war in the process?”

“They won’t try to kill innocents again on my watch, Velvet!” Weiss yelled, grinding her teeth, the hand holding the pistol shaking ever so slightly.

Of course, it all went back to Snowdale. The event in Weiss’s life that made her a stranger to me. Seconds away from their death, Weiss saved innocents, and it scarred her forever, far deeper than I could have ever known.

“You think you can change things from the inside? That you’re one of the good ones, but it will never be enough,” Weiss spat. “Nothing you can do will mean anything unless we fight them head-on. You’re no hero, Velvet. You’re complacent.”

I let my hand drop back to my side. “You’re right…” I admitted. “You’re right. I know I’m useless. No matter what I do out here… it won’t change anything. Not anything that matters anyway. Even if I got that opportunity, I don’t think I have the stomach to go through with what it would take. Even knowing that…” I looked up at Weiss and met her cold eyes. “Right now, I can still do the right thing.”

Weiss raised her chin. Any hesitation or concern for me pushed to the back of her mind. “I can’t risk that, Velvet,” she said as she set the device down behind her and stepped forward, pulling out Myrtenaster. Her rapier in one hand, glyphs ready, and the gun in the other, trained on my weak Aura.

I crouched down and formed a copy of Yatsuhashi’s greatsword, pulled back and ready to strike at whatever Weiss threw at me.

Both of us with attacks ready, waiting for the other to make their move. Waiting for the other to break this illusion once and for all.

Weiss shot, aiming to chip away my Aura.

I dodged and ran forward.

Using a glyph, Weiss threw the piano forward to stop me.

I sliced it in half. The piano exploded into splinters and strings, the ivory-white keys scattering through the air.

For a moment, Weiss froze as the shreds of piano flew toward her, distracting her long enough to cover what I did next.

Using the exploding instrument as cover, I leaped over Weiss. She snapped out of it and looked up as I cleared her and conjured a long gauntlet in my hand that extended out and grappled the emitter back to me.

I landed and slid backward through the door into the next car, the device clutched to my chest. Before she could react, I pulled out my Scroll and put the last car, and only the last car, in lockdown.

Weiss realized what I was doing and started running to the exit, tossing the gun away as she sprinted toward me. But the armor got there first. A metal sheet covered the doorway, slamming down between us.

I stood up, projecting two swords that spun around and sliced apart the gangway and coupling, disconnecting the end car. I used my Scroll to activate its emergency breaks. The wheels squealed as the final car started sliding to a halt, separated as the rest of the train and I pulled ahead.

The metal armor covering the observation car’s sealed door started to bend out before turning molten, exploding out with the last of Weiss’s Dust.

Weiss catapulted through the hole in the armor she tore open, launching herself with a glyph out of the car. She arched in the air above the tracks between the two train cars. Cold energy flowed from her eyes as she summoned three glyphs along the length of her rapier, targeting them and her blade down at me.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

I pushed one more button on my Scroll.

The cannon on top of my train car fired. Weiss looked up just as the Dust shell hit the three glyphs in front of her, exploding and knocking her out of the air. Plummeting down onto the tracks, Weiss roughly rolled to a stop.

The train pulled away as I stood alone on the back of the torn-up car.

Down the tracks, Weiss stood up and shook off the hit. Her Aura held, but the train and her mission were long gone.

The wind whipped through my hair as I looked at the destroyed train car and Weiss standing in front of it, too far away to see her expression.

Staring out at each other, we both faded into the distance.


	7. Chapter 7

The Mistral Express crawled to a slow, squealing stop back inside the coastal settlement where I started the job. It was still conspicuously missing its end car from the “incident” a week or so back, but I’d made sure the rest of the train made it to Mistral and back with no incident. No surprises there considering all the problematic passengers had left, one way or another.

End of the line. Not literally, the train had several more stops up the coast, but it was where my contract ended. The station was so familiar, I could almost convince myself that nothing had changed during the last two weeks.

After turning in my codes and the special Scroll I was given on my first day, I stepped off the train with my duffle bag hung on my shoulder, and blended in with the crowd waiting to board. Finding the scheduling sign at the end of the platform, I looked up at my options, no idea where I’d go from there. If I was smart, I would find a small settlement nearby and bury myself in work. That's what I'd planned to do after this job, after all.

I scratched my head and leaned against the back of a nearby bench. Obviously, nothing about the last two weeks had gone according to plan.

  
  


I thought back to a week ago, me sitting in an uncomfortable folding chair before a panel of Hunter leadership stationed in Mistral. They’d ended up being the last major faction to hear about Rotenberg defecting with an Atlas prototype and were debriefing me on why he and the device never finished the journey, and how the train transporting them got torn up in the process.

“And after you defeated the Atlas agent,” a middle-aged woman with an upper-level style asked, “what became of the experimental weapon?”

“It was destroyed during the fight,” I reported. “It fell off the train and was caught under the wheel, but if you want to look along the rails, you might find something salvageable.”

Obviously, I'd covered up how I'd actually spent the day or two after the fight with Quartz. Hours spent delicately taking apart the emitter, piece by piece, destroying anything I could, and breaking down anything I couldn't, then sporadically tossing those pieces as far as I could off the train for dozens of miles until I was sure nothing remained to be rebuilt. I’d told the Hunters that it riled up Grimm, nothing more about how it worked or that it was based on Aura-tech. If any information about it got out, it wouldn’t be through me. To the best of my power, whatever Rotenberg was working on was lost forever.

“You didn’t think it would be important to preserve the device?” a man with a curly beard asked.

“I had to prioritize the passengers, and I was busy fighting another Semblance-user.”

“Who you then executed,” the third member of the panel said while frowning under his thin glasses. “Did you not think to capture him to find out who he was working for in the Atlas government, and how the weapon worked?”

I stared at the committee in front of me. Hunter leadership had publically butted heads with Atlas for years for training their Semblance-users as special operatives and transferring the role of killing Grimm to the military. Mistral, also having recent problems with Atlas, must have shared the intel when the weapon was on route, only for the Mistral Express to arrive with the weapon lost, and the Militia soldiers and the defector dead.

After a few seconds, I sat up straight and gave my best bullshit explanation. “A fight against a stronger Specialist doesn’t always go according to plan.”

“This Quartz Taylor,” the upper-level woman started, “there is no record of his pseudonym or physical description enlisted in the Atlas military.”

“We’re dealing with off-the-books operatives?” the bearded man asked, rubbing a finger through his facial hair’s curls.

_ He didn’t act like military, _ I thought. If I had to guess from the conversation I pretended we never had, Quartz was a mercenary. But if that was the case, it was strange he'd be trusted to recover something so valuable. The other things he said about his employers didn’t add up either. What did he mean by ‘ripping his Semblance off a Faunus?’ Artificial Aura I could believe, but transferring an Aura to someone else? I shouldn’t have let it get to me because he was obviously messing with me. At least, I _ hoped _ he was just messing with me.

_ Who in the Atlas military would be recruiting specialists? And for what reason? _

Whatever explanation, it was way above my paygrade and scale of understanding. My place was in smaller settlements. The machinations of kingdom politics and I didn’t mix well.

One of the Hunters pushed up his glasses before speaking, “You failed to capture an assassin with information we could have used for the sake of the Kingdoms. You are young, Ms. Scarlatina, but we expect more from the training we provided you.”

“You were allowed in our ranks, commendable considering your heritage. If you wish to advance from defending petty settlements, you will have to make up for this insufficient performance."

_ Once again, I'm under a misunderstanding that we are supposed to hunt Grimm,  _ I thought.

“You will complete your mission back to the far coastal settlements and be notified in several weeks how these events will be reflected on your record.”

_ And whether or not I owe the rail company for blowing up their train car,  _ I thought but stayed quiet to maintain the hope I didn’t piss off my bosses here enough to leave me with that bill.

After dismissing me, I walked down the empty halls of the Hunter office, the fur on the back of my ears standing on end. I grit my teeth and clutched at my arm now that I could breathe freely without my license getting revoked. The stress wasn’t helping my injury, either. I rubbed over the partially healed wound hidden under my jacket sleeve as it throbbed in pain.

“No good deed, as they say.”

I turned toward the voice calling to me. A Hunter around my age with platinum blonde hair and dark skin stepped out of a doorway and walked up to me. She was tall and wore a yellow one-sleeved robe with a red sash displaying an endless knot emblem. Her sleeved arm was on her hip as she looked me up and down, happy with what she saw.

“With leaders like this, no wonder the public hates us these days,” she said, reaching out a hand. “Name’s Arslan Altan.”

I nodded and shook her hand. "I remember you from the academy tournaments." Arslan and her team only got licensed a year before my own, but they'd already become well respected across Anima.

“Likewise. Never did get the chance to take on CFVY, though. We should spar sometime.”

I laughed politely. I’d seen her matches, I’d be slaughtered.

"Let me guess. Getting grief for doing your job?" Arslan asked.

“Close enough,” I said.

“As soon as some settlements stop relying on the kingdoms loaning out Hunters, the higher-ups go into a panic. They care more about keeping their power than the actual lives at risk.”

I lowered my head. “There’s not enough of us out there.”

“Places with good Hunter training communities like Patch will be alright, but those are exceptions. The way things are going, settlements will turn more and more to mercenaries with no training. But I don’t need to tell you how ugly things are going to get.”

“Nothing I can do about it,” I frowned, “I’m just one Hunter.”

“Well, you’re not alone,” Arslan said in a hushed tone, walking alongside me. “A group of us with similar concerns are organizing to do something about the situation. We all agree that the freelancers popping up can’t deal with Grimm. A lot more people are going to die unless we do something. The role of a Hunter is necessary, but not like this.”

I looked up and down the hall, double-checking that we were alone. “Are you defecting?”

Arslan nodded. “We’re creating a guild of sorts that would vet freelancers and provide them resources. That way, we who have the proper training can certify more members without being bogged down by kingdom politics. At least, that’s what we hope we’ll be making.”

We talked about the details of the movement, how recruitment would work, the standard members would be held to, everything Arslan and the other defectors were still workshopping. It would be a learning process for all of them, and a lot of effort, but if it worked, it would be better than the alternative. Arslan took note to mention that many of the defectors were other Faunus. I wasn't the only one who joined to do some good and felt like their hands were tied by the system.

“Why are you talking to me about this? I asked. “I haven’t been licensed long, and unlike you, I don’t have any clout.”

“Cynically,” Arslan sighed, “we need numbers, but we do want to get Hunters from all ages to show the necessity of the movement. Don’t sell yourself short, though. I got a look at your record, and I think you have potential.”

“As a freelancer?”

“Who knows, maybe as a leader.” Arslan handed me a card with her contact information and emblem on it. “I trust you to keep it on the down-low. Think about it!” She waved and casually walked away before anyone spotted us.

I looked down at the card, flipping it around in my hands.

  
  


I absentmindedly flipped Arslan’s card around in my hand as I waited at the edge of the train platform. I sighed, put it back in my jacket pocket, and stopped thinking about the treasonous conversation to rub my jacket sleeve. Aura-healing had fixed up my arm on the return journey, but it would still be sore for another week or two. Eventually, the pain became bearable, and I stood up straight, ready to walk away from the station.

"Ms. Scarlatina!" Conductor Boyd called after me. I turned as he quickly talked up to me, gasping in relief that he caught me before I disappeared. "Before you leave, thank you for your work."

"No problem." I smiled professionally and shook his hand. Thinking back over the trip and this man's oddly kind attitude toward me, this was my last chance to settle a suspicion I had since I started the job. "Maybe I'm wrong, but did you know about me before I got on board?" I asked with a more genuine expression.

“I travel around, as you know, and I ended up hearing about you a couple of times, each was something good to say. After our usual canceled at the last minute, when the higher-ups said you were along the route, I requested you.” Boyd looked back at his train. “Not many people would go that far to save us.”

It was more complicated than he was making it sound, but it didn’t hurt to let him think that.

“Speaking of,” Boyd said, “have you heard from Ms. Schnee since she… exited… the train.”

I’d left all mention of Weiss out of my reports to the Hunters. If they asked, I’d say she was unrelated, but it seemed like Boyd knew a little more than he’d let on during the trip. That wasn't surprising, it was his job to know what was going on in his train.

“No,” I finally responded. “I doubt I will any time soon, honestly. We didn’t… leave things off on the best terms this time.”

Boyd stared at me for a moment before sighing and putting his hands in his vest pockets. “I don’t exactly know what happened between you two and how it relates to the uh…” He gestured to the lack of a train car at the end of the express. “But… I recognize heartbreak when I see it.”

I looked away uncomfortably. Was it that obvious? I shrugged and laughed it off. “Never was going to go anywhere anyway. Might as well get on with my life.”

Boyd nodded. He looked around, spotting the bench, and moved over to it. “If you don’t mind hearing the ramblings of an old man,” he said, sitting down, “I’ve got one or two pieces of wisdom.”

I raised an eyebrow as he offered the seat next to him. I didn’t have anywhere else to be, and he seemed like he meant well, so I accepted the invitation and sat down.

Boyd pointed to the three pins on his vest. “One for my wife, and two for our kids,” he said, smiling with pride. “I’ve been married for twenty years, but she wasn’t my first. When I was young, well older than you are now, but that’s relative, my first wife and I a great relationship, but like all things, it didn’t last. Mostly my fault, I’m afraid. I won’t bore you with the personal details.”

“So…” I frowned, “your advice is that there are other fish in the sea?”

“Not quite.” Boyd chuckled and looked into the distance. “I don’t regret much about my life, Ms. Scarlatina, but after my first wife and I separated, I realized I never apologized. I had a fantasy that she would hunt me down and force me to say I was sorry, for my own sake. It’s selfish, but I think she deserves it. Just goes to show that you can’t rely on others to make you do the right thing.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do out here.” I followed his gaze over the settlement. From where we were sitting, we could see above the buildings and roads, the town stretching down the hillside pressed against the beach. “In training,” I said, “I was in a support role. My team always said they depended on me, but I think it was the other way around. Without them, I was useless. That’s why I’ve been out here, trying to find out if I can depend on myself for once.”

“Depending on yourself shouldn’t mean being alone,” Boyd said.

I frowned but nodded. Just my luck, he was making sense, but you can get some of that with life experience.

Boyd sighed, clicking his tongue like he was mulling over whether or not he should say something. He finally made up his mind and gave in before turning back to me. "I heard a rumor over the channel we conductors and captains use, that a few days back a woman matching Ms. Schnee’s description took an airship to Sanus. The eastern settlements, I think."

My ears perked up, betraying my interest, but I immediately regretted my excitement. I didn't have any right to follow after her.

"If you're interested in leaving things off differently, I know that a passenger boat sets sail from the port in about twenty minutes."

I stared at the town below, just able to make out the port from where I was sitting. If I started running, I could barely make it. “Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

“Because I’m a selfish old man who wants to give a couple of kids the closure he never had.” He smiled, patted me on the shoulder, and stood up. “Until next time, Velvet.” He walked back to his train, checking his watch and called “All aboard!” before climbing on as the engines started up.

Looking over my shoulder, I watched the train leave after a couple minutes, pulling away from the station and heading north out of the settlement gates. I turned back and looked at the vast ocean again, my eyes drawn to the small ships on its edge.

I slowly stood up from the bench, almost dragging my feet as I started walking along the road down through the settlement.

_ What right do I have to chase after Weiss? I have no idea how she feels about anything, especially about me. What was a lie, and what was the truth? _

I picked up my speed to put some distance between me and the train station. I hunched my shoulders and let myself get towered over by stucco buildings as I walked deeper down the cobblestone streets.

_ What went through her mind when I left her last time? I abandoned her when she needed a friend the most. Weiss was right. We were both pretending. Pretending I hadn't hurt her, and pretending she wasn't using me. _

I put my hands in my jacket, my ears flopped won in front of my face as I hid from the world.

_ It was never meant to last. Weiss said it herself back on the train, we all have to wake up from the dream sometime. _

I stopped in my tracks, standing in the middle of the settlement. People from civilians, to workers, to travelers, walked up and down the road. The world moved on without me for a moment, or maybe it had been for a long time.

I started sprinting down the hill.

_ Not yet! _ I thought.

I raced past shops, drawing attention to myself as I ran down through the settlement as fast as my legs would carry me. I sidestepped a couple on a walk, not losing momentum as I poured in all my strength to move forward and let gravity carry me the rest of the way.

_ I’m not ready to wake up from this dream,  _ I thought, clenching my eyes shut, my ears bent back from the speed.  _ NOT YET! _

A driver honked in a moving car I almost hit, but they were soon far behind me as I ran onto the docks, hopped over a barrier and down the peer, running all the way to the end and--

The boat had already left. I was minutes too late. The passenger ship I’d been advised about was already sailing far eastward to another continent.

My hands gripped my knees as I bent over to recover from the adrenaline rush. My gasps for air quickly became laughter. I put a hand on my face and let it all out to the ocean. Laughing at myself for ever thinking I could handle being alone after how desperately I tried to catch the boat but missing it after all my effort.

I coughed, hacking my lungs out as I regained composure. Thankfully, anyone around was ignoring the crazy Faunus lady.

“I have _ a lot _ of apologies to make,” I chuckled to myself before standing up.  _ Sorry, everyone. It took me a while, but I think I’m back. _

I looked out across the ocean, where Weiss was ahead of me.  _ I'm not going to let you get away that easily, _ I thought as I grit my teeth and put on a determined smile. I reached out my fist like I had a grip on the horizon.  _ I'll chase you down to the end of the world, Weiss. Just you watch! _

**Ten days later…**

“I want you to know, Weiss,” Yang said while scarfing down her eggs. “I appreciate that you’ve taken some time off to cheer me on.”

Weiss looked up from her plate and glared at her friend across the booth table. "I'm not on vacation, Yang. I can do my job just fine over the net in my hotel room, and I'm barely even supporting your training." They were eating a late breakfast in the diner down the street from the gym Yang trained in every morning. There weren't many other patrons other than Weiss and Yang, the perks of eating before the lunch rush, and the only sounds around the two talking were from the kitchen in the background.

Yang shrugged. “I don’t see Ruby or Blake running and working out with me every morning.”

“The only reason Ruby hasn’t abandoned school to help your fighting career is because you specifically told Blake to make sure she didn’t do that,” Weiss said before sipping her coffee.

Yang laughed. “Yeah… I’m kidding, Weiss. You really do need a vacation. You’re even more serious than usual.”

“Too busy for one of those.”

Yang gestured at her as if to say, "Exactly!" but took a bite out of her stake instead of saying anything. "So, Ruby called a few weeks back," she said, changing the subject. "Said you were in some trouble?"

"I wrapped it up," Weiss said. From the lack of anyone coming after her, it seemed that Velvet kept her connection to the White Fang on the down-low. It wasn't that Weiss thought Velvet would talk, it just felt like she was still using her to keep it a secret. Not even her old team knew she sometimes worked with her sister. The occasional assignment wasn't a big deal, but it was a lie nonetheless.

“Well, something’s been bugging you since you got here the other day, so what is it, girl?”

“I… I had a bad breakup. Nothing serious.”

“Again?!”

“You are atrociously blunt. Did Ruby ever tell you that?”

“What happened this time? Do I need to fly to Anima and bust some heads? Where does she live?”

“No, it was my fault!” Weiss sighed. “We had a fight, I… I was leading her on, and by the time I realized I liked her as much as I did, it was too late.”

“Oof.”

“She was also, in hindsight, probably right about something I put my foot down on,” Weiss said as she stared down at the table. “I got scared and acted like a stubborn idiot again.” Weiss didn't want to believe what happened almost four years ago would affect her judgment, but the evidence was clear.

“Did you get the chance to apologize?”

“Well, I used her, and then we got in a fight.”  _ And then literally shot me with a cannon, _ she thought before continuing. “I doubt she wants to see me right now.”

Yang sighed and finished her stake as she patiently listened to Weiss’s problems. “That’s a tough one. Are you being too hard on yourself, or were you actually the worst?”

“The latter.”

“Hard to believe considering your personality issues.”

“Excuse me?”

“You think if you don’t act perfectly, the universe will fall apart. Even when I met you, you were a control freak. Honestly, what’s the worst that you of all people could have done to this girl?”

Weiss squirmed and looked away. “I lied… about a lot of things.”

“What about?”

“It’s private. Even for you.”

"Fine, what was a harmless lie? Something to get off your chest."

Weiss thought about it, looking up at the ceiling.

“Spit it out. It’ll help.”

“I lied… that it was the first time I had sex on a train.”

Yang narrowed her eyes in confusion.

“I thought it would turn her on.”

“Wha… Did it?”

“Yes.”

“Why??? And who are you screwing on trains?!”

After that revelation, Yang took another sip of her soda. “Weiss, I’d do anything for you. Me, Ruby, Blake, all of us would. We’ve all been through a lot together.”

Weiss shared Yang’s thousand-yard stare at the comment. “Oh yeah,” she mumbled.

“Do you care about this girl?” Yang asked.

“I think so. I wish I knew,” Weiss said. “I don’t know if it’s guilt or heartache, you know?”

“You’re allowed to mess up, Weiss. If you’re still torn up after all this time, then she’s gotta be really hot or something.”

Weiss thought back to that night on the train, but said nothing and just sipped on her drink.

“Point is,” Yang continued, “you can always apologize. If you do, then it’s all up to her, and it’s no longer your problem.”

“Alway the relationship expert, I see.” Weiss frowned and thought,  _ Didn’t you and Neo violently break up four times in prison alone? _

“No matter what she says,” Yang said with a smile, “the people who love you will always have your back.”

“I can’t rely on anyone to come through for me,” Weiss said, immediately hoping Yang didn’t take it as an insult.

“You’d be surprised,” Yang said, smiling like she hoped her friend would get plenty of chances to be proven wrong. Her Scroll chimed, and she looked at the time. “I gotta run. Meet up later?”

“Of course,” Weiss said. “See you after your training.”

Yang stood up and looked back. “You got the bill, right?”

“How much money do you think I make?” Weiss scowled. Is this what she meant by relying on friends?

Yang finger saluted and left without paying a cent.

Weiss smirked and looked at her half-eaten plate, alone with her thoughts.

It’d been weeks since their fight, so it was too late to apologize. Weiss looked at her Scroll, sitting on the table, taunting her every time she thought about how easy it would be to make the call. Weiss pulled a slip of paper out of her jacket, the one Velvet gave her back on the train where her number was written down. Setting it on the table next to her Scroll, Weiss stared at it.

She wasn’t sure if she was caving in or building the confidence, but she finally sighed and typed the number in her Scroll, making the call at last.

The phone seemed to ring forever, until someone picked up on the other end, Velvet’s voice traveling through the call and cautiously asking, “Hello?”

“It’s me,” Weiss said. “It’s Weiss.”

Nothing but silence on the other end, just the faint sound of some traffic and city life. Wherever Velvet was, she was outside in whatever settlement across Remnant she’d ended up in after they last saw each other.

"I-I know it doesn't change anything, but I thought I should at least say I'm sorry," Weiss said, leaning back in her booth chair. "I'm sorry for how things ended. I'm sorry for how I treated you. I got so caught up in what was at stake that I didn't realize I'd made an ass of myself until it was too late. It's not that I didn't want us to be together, I just don't deserve you."

Behind her, Weiss heard the door chime ring as someone entered the diner, distracting her from her ramblings. She ignored it and tried to find the right words to express how she felt.

“The truth is, I hated that you stuck with the training. I thought you were an idealistic idiot who was ignoring what she was contributing to. But then, after all my pride, stubborn superiority, and judging you from behind your back, you made the right choice when I couldn’t. If I paid attention to how I felt, if I’d been honest with you, who knows, maybe we could have made it work. I’ve had to cling to the people I love so they’ll never leave me, but with you, I just threw everything back in your face.” Weiss laughed sadly. “I can’t even face you. I’m just a coward who can only talk over the phone.”

It was around there that Weiss realized that Velvet had barely spoken during the whole call. She waited patiently for a reprimand or a rejection, but nothing came. The other end of the line was completely silent.

“Velvet?” Weiss cautiously asked. The call ended as a shadow appeared from behind Weiss’s back.

“Gotcha!”

Weiss jerked her head up, seeing a tall brown-haired woman with long Faunus ears, smiling down at her from the back of her chair. Weiss sputtered, looking at her Scroll, then back up, back and forth, not knowing which out of a dozen questions rushing through her head to start with. “H--How?” she settled on, staring up at Velvet wide-eyed.

Velvet smirked, walked around the back of the chair, and sat down across from Weiss. “Good thing you called when you did. I almost chickened out of talking to you.”

“Wh-What?”

"I went to your hotel, but they said you weren't there, so I asked around," Velvet picked up a menu and started looking through it. "I found you like thirty minutes ago, but even after Yang left, I felt too nervous to do anything but creep on you from across the street."

“You… You were stalking me?”

“I’d say that makes us even, wouldn’t you?” Velvet flipped a page on the menu. “What’s good here?”

Weiss looked around, making sure she wasn’t hallucinating, the physical presence of Velvet proven by the waiter responding to her waving them down and taking her coffee order. “What about your job?” Weiss asked. “You can’t just, chase me across Remnant without getting in trouble.”

“This was more important,” Velvet said, crossing her arms and leaning them on the table. “As for the job thing,” she spun a card with an endless-knot emblem on it between her fingers and put it away in her jacket pocket, “it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Why?” Weiss asked in disbelief. “I hurt you. I used you. You should hate--”

“I’m sorry.” Velvet said, smiling sadly.

“For… for what?”

“For leaving. Not just on the train, also in Vale. I said I’d be there for you no matter what, and I wasn’t.”

“That was years ago, Velvet,” Weiss said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I thought I should say it,” Velvet’s ears bent down, “at least once.”

Weiss looked across at her. After everything Weiss had done, Velvet traveled all this way just to give an apology. Weiss wondered if Velvet knew how beautiful she was to her, her pulled-back hair, her shy smiled pretending to be brazen, her ears emoting so much more than she knew. This perfect soul tracked her down. If someone like this could care that much about her, then maybe she deserved to be loved.

“Did you mean it?” Velvet asked. “What you said over the phone about wanting for us to be together?”

For what felt like the dozenth time, Weiss was shocked silent. Velvet had crashed back into her life, taking the shattered illusion of their relationship and held it together with all her strength, refusing to let go until she heard the final word from Weiss, praying that the answer would transform it into something real. Weiss started laughing at the entire ridiculous situation. "I need to stop falling for headstrong idiots who swoop in out of nowhere," she chuckled. "Is this what people mean when they say they have a type?"

Velvet reached across the table and gripped Weiss’s hand. “Is that a yes?” she asked like a schoolgirl excited her crush agreed to a date.

Weiss smiled, sniffling as a tear dripped down her cheek. “Idiot. Of course it is, Vel.”


End file.
